A Flight for a Thousand Miles
by Aschu
Summary: That day, Run knew he had to make a choice. Either change the Empire from the inside, or help create a new one with the Revolutionary Army. What he chooses however, isn't what he expects. As he's thrown into Night Raid's world, he finds out that the feared assassins are some of the weirdest and quirkiest people he's ever met. One things for sure, the Empire isn't prepared for them
1. The Start of a Journey

"Where the hell is that bastard!" A guard yelled, trying to remiscence what in the heavens could possibly kill his boss and comrades so quickly. Damn, this guy attacked them at the worst possible time. Why did it have to be when they were all so intoxicated? He didn't have much time to think about it though, as he suddenly became a victim of ever so kindly having a knife lodged in his throat from behind him. "W-what?" he choked, blood filling up his lungs. He tried turned his eyes trying to get a look at just who this monster was. Instead, he was met with a voice.

"Sorry, it's nothing personal against you. You were just following you're orders and happened to be here at the wrong time." The knife retracted from the guards throat, and he collapsed to the floor, his blood starting to pool. Fighting to stay conscious, his killer stood over him, and his now visible golden eyes seemed to glow in the dimmly lit hallway. The man squatted down next to the unfortunate guard's head, holding his knife right above it.

"The least I can do is give you a swift death."

(time skip)

"Well Run, I have to say, at first I didn't think you'd be able to do it," the recruitment officer started,"but you have most certainly proved me wrong. When I heard from our sources that Captain Tyron and his men had been killed, I was surprised. When I heard that there were no survivors, I was also surprised. When I heard that there was no evidence that you used your teigu however, I was astounded! How many were there, twenty?" He looked up at the the young man sitting across from him, looking to be no older than in his early twenties, golden hair and eyes reflecting the calm aura that surrounded him. Run only smiled back. They were sitting in a tent at one of the Revolutionary Army's camps, which was a pain in the ass for him to find initially, them wanting to make sure the Empire didn't find them.

"It actually wasn't that hard, really. I mean, most of them were heavily intoxicated anyway, and it was more of a close range skirmish, so Mastema would have likely been more of a liability than an advantage in those tight corridors." Which was the truth. Sure, he spyed on them enough to know when exactly their little 'drinking fest' was, but he had to be careful he didn't sound too arrogant. There was no way he could screw this up. "Be patient Run," he thought,"the way things are going, he's bound to bring up the offer."

The officer happily clasped his hands together, which Run thought to be a tad bit ironic, based on how rude the officer was when he first met him. He even went to great lengths threatening Run to not give away their location, but was now acting all buddy-buddy with him because he killed some people. "In all seriousness though, me and the other officers have already discussed your performance. And we all agreed that after looking through your background and making sure it matches up, that the Revolutionary Army could use your skills and asks for your service. Based on how you went and found us though, I doubt that you'll refuse this offer, no?" Run nodded in agreement.

"Yes sir"

"Well then, I hope you don't mind that we've already assigned you to a unit then?" Well, that was certainly unexpected. Run honestly didn't care where he was put as lo(ng as 1) He would be able to take the fight to the Empire, and 2) Be able to carry out his own deeds. Still, he was surprised that they were stationing him so quickly.

"Of course not, sir" The officer laughed and stuck out his hand, and Run shook it. "Well then, welcome to the Revolutionary Army, kid."

(Time skip)

Run wandered through the streets of the Capital, following the coded map the Army had given him to find his new comrades. "To be stationed so soon," he thought,"either the Revolutionary Army really was ecstatic about my skills, or they're really in deep. Not that I'm complaining though, I did say I wanted to help as soon as possible."

He turned another corner, trying to navigate through the crowds. It was a bit of change of pace for him, being from a remote mountain village. He had heard from others that the Capital was a busy place, but he hadn't imagined entire streets backed up with people. What didn't surprise him however, was the amount of homeless, sick, and shady people that were there. He had already accepted that the Empire was a despicable government, which was why he was here now in the first place, wasn't it?

As he turned the final corner before he arrived at his destination, he stopped. Something felt...out of place. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but the feeling this street gave was different. Maybe it was because he just now realized that he was about to meet a group of experienced killers (well, he hoped they were experienced). Or maybe it was because he now realized that once he entered the hideout, there was absolutely no turning back of any type.

He outwardly sighed. "Not the time to think about this Run," he muttered under his breath,"You already decided that you were going to do this, didn't you?" He started walking again, picking up his pace ever so slightly, until he landed in front of a book shop, the sign on the tinted window reading CLOSED on the window. Hideout? Confirmed.

He placed his hand on the doorknob, which felt rusty and out of use. "Remember Run," he thought,"this is for them, and for the well-being of every other soul in the Empire."

He opened the door, and the light that came from it revealed all of the dust flying about in the room. It was dark and musty inside, and books were piled up aimlessly around the shop, some stacks towering over even him. He quickly scanned the room to make sure there weren't any traps, or people for that matter, lying in the shadows. When he found none, he cautiously walked around and examined the room, finding it strange that there weren't any signs of anyone working here. "A test? They are part of the Revolutionary Army. Hmm, maybe there's something I'm missing here."  
Suddenly, he heard the door that he had closed behind him creak open, and Run spun around, his guard high.

"Woah, woah, woah. Who the hell are you? And why the hell are you in my shop?" A green haired and eyed boy asked, looking to be in his teens. The stranger looked tense as well, but if Run couldn't read people as well as he could, he wouldn't have known. Run took a deep breath, and exhaled.

"I'm sorry, I was in the area and noticed your shop. I know the sign said it was closed, but I thought since it was open, maybe a staff member was here and would help me find something. I'm looking for a really rare and timeless book," he closed his eyes, hoping he wouldn't screw up. "It's called Revoltio Exercitus Compleo, have you heard of it?"

The teen relaxed slightly, sighing outward a bit. "So you're the new recruit?" Run nodded.

"It seems like it. You're the representative, I presume?"  
When the Revolutionary Army had given him the map, they had also given him a phrase to signal the other members he was on their side, not the Empire's. It also let him know if they weren't some imposter. The assassin nodded.

"Yeah, name's Lubbock. Yours?"

"Run. It's a pleasure to meet you." Lubbock, apparently, just waved him off.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's a pleasure- wait. Did you just respond to me politely?" Lubbock seemed to do a double take, as if it was an alien thing to do. Which was probably a bad sign.

"I believe so, yes."

Lubbock clasped his hands together, his eyes sparkling. "Oh my god you actually seem remotely normal! Yes! I don't have to deal with another prick! Yes! Holy crap, hahaha!" He danced around the room, looking truly happy.

Which made Run feel a little awkward. Did his new comrades actually have no manners? No, were his new comrades crazy as Lubbock? The green haired boy was still dancing around the room, until Run coughed slightly, making him pause. "Um, Lubbock was it? I really do appreciate you meeting me here, but do you think I could meet the other members of this unit?" Lubbock blinked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Hahaha, sorry it's just been a really long time since I've been treated kindly since...forever. Sure thing, just follow me!" He then proceeded to walk out the door he just came from.

"Isn't this the base of operations?" Run asked. Lubbock only laughed.

"Pfft, no. Not all of us can show are faces in the Capital without being targeted by the Empire. This is just a...sub-base, I guess. Our main one is just outside the Capital, out in the country-side, but close enough to where we can enter the capital pretty quickly." Lubbock turned around and proceeded to lead Run through the streets of the Capital. "Just warning you though, everyone else is kinda, well, off."  
"I've noticed," Run thought. He looked up to the sky, glowing gold-ish red as the sun set over the hills. "If you think they're wierd, I'd hate to imagine what they're all like."


	2. The Wings Unfold

When he and Lubbock arrived at the main base, Run couldn't help but whistle. He had expected something more along the lines of tents and cabins, not what was basically a castle underneath a cliff.  
"Cool, right? It took the Revolutionary Army forever to build this thing," Lubbock said. "Come on, the entrance is over here." Once they both found the hidden doorway, which was ironic for such a big building, they made their way through the huge structure. Run, not one to like to be unprepared, thought that maybe he should ask about his new teammates.

"So, you said the others were off?"

"Yeah, but then again, everyone kind of is," Lubbock said, not really paying attention. "There's Mine who's a total tsundere, Sheele's a bit of an airhead, but she's totally nice...just not when killing people. Akame loves food, and she's our best fighter by far. Bulat's awesome, just don't be in the same room with him alone, trust me it's uncomfortable when you're new. And Leone's...Leone!" He paused. "And then there's Miss Najenda, the bestest and most beautiful boss ever." He sighed dreamily, which was a red giant flag that someone had a crush.

"Bestest isn't a word." Run casually said, then bit his tounge out of annoyance. "My bad, that was out of habit."

Lubbock shrugged. "Eh, no big deal. Here we are!" They stopped in front a slightly opened door. "We all would like to welcome you to Night Raid!" Lubbock opened the door in an over dramatic fashion to reveal six other people, five of them standing up, while the sixth sat in a chair. Najenda, he presumed. Well he tried to at least, he was still trying to get past the part where Lubbock had said 'Night Raid.'

So here was the thing, he hadn't been told, for whatever reason, that his unit was a group of highly trained assassins. Not to even mention considered one of the capital's most feared enemies. Now that he looked at the people standing before him, he recognized most of them from the wanted posters. And honestly, he was beating himself up for not realizing it was them when he first heard their names. His thoughts were interrupted however, by a young woman about his age with yellow hair.  
"This the newbie Lubbock? He doesn't look like an assassin, more like a librarian." She got up and approached the pair, looking Run over, which made him slightly tense. "You sure you got the right person?"

"Um, I don't know I kind of just let him into our hideout without making sure- OF COURSE I CHECKED IT WAS HIM LEONE." Leone just laughed, and punched him playfully in the arm.

"Jeez, calm your man tits! I was just teasing." She looked back to Run. "Yo, I'm Leone, we'll get along fine as long as you don't mind alcohol, and you're not perverted like this one here," she said patting Lubbock's now enraged head, making Run chuckle nervously and feel more uncomfortable than he already did. Unfortunately, she noticed his awkwardness.

"Ooh, do we have shy one here? That's new," she walked over to him and placed an arm over his shoulders,"maybe I'll just have to make you my new play thing, huh now?" That was all Run could take from her before jumping ship. He kindly took her arm and removed it from his shoulders.

"Thank you, Leone, but I'm going to have to decline that offer." Polar opposite found? Definitely. Leone just huffed.

"Spoilsport."

"Finally, someone who seems remotely civilized. Jesus people, is it so hard to use manners?" A girl dressed from head to toe in pink said. Lubbock coughed.

"Says the girl with anger problems."

"I DO NOT HAVE ANGER PROBLEMS YOU PERVERTED BASTARD!" She yelled, and promptly stomped on his toe, making him yelp. She looked over to Run and held out her hand. "My name's Mine, the only other properly mannered person here." Run took it.

"Run, it's a pleasure Mine." They were then brashly interrupted by a massive man with a pompadour.

"Well what do we have here? Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Run blinked. Did... What... Then it clicked.

"You're name wouldn't happen to be Bulat, would it?" Bulat looked surprised.

"Oh so you've heard from me?" Run shrugged.

"Well, kind of. Anyway, I'm sorry, but as far as I know I don't think I'm gay." Bulat only luaghed.

"Hahahahaha, we certainly do have a sharp one here, don't we?" he patted Run on the back,"eh, don't worry about it. A man's gotta try though, right?" Run laughed nervously with him, which he was doing a lot of recently, he noticed.

He looked to the other two members who hadn't introduced themselves yet, but he already knew who they were. Now that the wanted posters were clearly in his head, he knew that these two were Night Raid's Sheele and Akame.

Sheele, the one with long purple hair, didn't seem to be quite...there; like she was spacing out. This made Run decide that maybe confronting her was the best option. He walked up to her leaving the other four alone, Mine and Lubbock going at each other while Leone and Bulat just laughed while they watched. He held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Run, it's a pleasure to be working with you." Sheele seemed to snap back to reality.

"Hm? Oh, who are you?" She seemed genuinely confused. Which confused Run.

"I'm Run," he repeated,"I'm the the recruit that the Revolutionary Army sent here to help you guys." Her eyes lit up with recognition.

"Oh! That...," she rubbed her head in embarrassment. "I'm Sheele, nice to meet you!" She bowed her head, not noticing Run's hand, which he was oddly fine with. He turned to the last one standing up. Akame.

She was observing him too, and their eyes locked. The funny thing about locking eyes with someone you barely know, is that sometimes you get a better understanding from that than actually talking to the person. It was kind of funny in hindsight, really, it was like they were trying to read each other's minds. They both nodded to each other, neither feeling the need to go up and introduce each other more than that. They didn't need to.

Najenda coughed then, signaling to those not paying attention (Lubbock, Mine, Sheele, Leone, and Bulat) that the introductions were over and it was time to get down to business.  
"So, Run, what do you think of our little band of killers?" Her voice was strong, testing almost. "You're probably wondering why you're on the front lines so quickly." Run nodded. "Well you see, I happened to be at that particular camp shortly after you killed Captain Tyron and his men gathering information from our sources, when I overheard the officers talking about a teigu user who killed Tyron and all his men without using it. That's what initially got me interested. The fact that their were no survivors and minimal witnesses however, is what lead me to request you to join Night Raid. If that doesn't show signs of being a great assassin, I don't what does. Makes sense?" Run nodded again, not exactly surprised that that was how it happened. He knew that something was up when he was called out so quickly, so Najenda requesting him to be put in Night Raid was certainly plausible.

"Wait, so what's his teigu?" Leone asked, seeming a little more serious than a few minutes ago. Najenda only looked to Run.

"Care to show them?" Run shrugged.

"Can't be helped." He took off the bag he had been carrying (he had brought it since he thought he has moving in) and took out two large disks. He threw them up in the air slightly, and they then proceeded to hover over his shoulders. "Time to shine-" he started.  
"Mastema."


	3. Preparing for Take Off

Everything exploded all at once. The wires extracted from Mastema's disks, and the feathers then came with all their might and glory. For the sake of not smothering everyone, he didn't let the wings grow to their largest size, so everyone could breathe and see happily.

Lubbock stepped back in shock of almost being hit by a wing. "Geez! Can we get some sort of warning next time!? I would not like to be sent flying across the room thank you very much!" Run sent an apologetic look.

"My bad, from the way Miss Najenda put it, it sounded like she wanted actions rather than words." Najenda nodded her head.

"Exactly," she said, and rose out of her chair. "And please, call me Boss. Everyone does. Except Lubbock. I can't help that though."

"Eh, so this is Mastema: Thousand-Mile Flight huh?" Bulat said. "We lost track of this one years ago, but we assumed it was with the capital. Where'd you get this, exactly?" Bulat asked.

"I stole it." Run said, leaving it at that. He really didn't want to go into details about how he got it, at least not yet. He barely knew any of them, and wasn't sure how they would react. Thankfully, Bulat didn't press any further, most likely sensing that he didn't want to go any further because of the vauge answer.

"Are you skilled in using it?" Run turned his head, the voice belonged to Akame, speaking for the first time.

"I would like to believe so. I mean, I really didn't have an example to lead by, but then again I doubt any of you really did." Akame nodded, looking almost curious.

"Sooo," Leone started," I'm just gonna assume this thing can fly based on the name and appearance and such. But is that all it can do? Since we thought it was lost, I really didn't look it up in the handbook thingy, and I'm feeling kind of lazy, so mind enlightening me?"

"With words!" Lubbock said, who had moved to take cover under the table.

"Sure, no problem," Run started. "First off, you're right. Mastema does grant me the power of flight, but that's not all it does. When up in the air, or on the ground for that matter, I'm able to shoot feather's from the wings at long range at multiple targets. I'm also able to launch one of Mastema's wings at target from long range as well." Run purposefully decided not to tell them about Mastema's trump card, just in case if things went south.

"So you're basically our moveable, not sitting duck Mine," Leone said. The room then got really, really quiet.

"Excuse me Leone," Mine said,"but next time your head's about to be chopped off, don't be prepared for me sniping them off your ass. AND I AM NOT A SITTING DUCK! Sure, I need to have a bodyguard, but that's because I'm busy concentrating on protecting all of you asses! Geez, show some respect!" Leone only stuck her tounge out.

"You first."

Najenda coughed sharply, causing the two of them to shut up, which made Run even more appreciative that she was in that much control. "That's also another reason I requested him, he fits strategically. His teigu is incredibly useful when it comes to recon and picking off a lot of people at once. And I have no doubt in my mind that's what you used to take down Captain Tyron and his men, the recon part at least."

"You're right," Run agreed,"I watched their movements for about two weeks from afar with Mastema before making my move. Once I found out about their weekly 'meeting' at their local town's pub, it was like a picking an apple from a tree: free for the taking."

"You're close combat skills must be at least decent then too," said Akame, speaking once again. Run shrugged.

"Well, I wouldn't brag, but I was trained in hand to hand combat, so I'm at least sufficient at it." Akame nodded.

"That's good," she whispered under her breath, so Run was barely able hear it.

"Well, now that that's all settled, I hope you don't mind that I've assigned you a mission already for tomorrow," said Najenda. Run raised his eyebrows, amazed at how people in the Revolutionary Army had thing about telling him a change in plans at the last minute. He held his tounge though, and instead replied:

"No, that's not a problem at all."

Najenda smiled. "Atta there soldier, you'll be debriefed tomorrow. Now, as for all of you, have you finished you house tasks yet?" The silence in the room lasted for about five minutes before..

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted! I'm off to bed!"

"Oh man, I am too. See ya guys tomorrow!"

"Welp I'm going to retire too then."

"Yeah, I gotta catch up on my beauty sleep!"

And that was how the room emptied out faster than Run had ever seen, Lubbock tripping as he tried to exit the door. That left him, Akame, and Sheele with Najenda. Najenda looked at Akame expectantly.

"How about you, Akame?"

"Me?" She asked,"I finished." Najenda nodded.

"Very good, you're free to do as you please, but could you show Run to his room then?" Akame saluted.

"Yes Boss!" Najenda laughed.

"Atta girl, you two are dismissed. You are too Sheele." Sheele jolted, signaling she probably hadn't been paying attention.

"Hm? Oh yes, thank you." And with that she walked out of the room. Akame looked over to Run.

"Follow me."

The hallways were dark now, the only light being from the moon that shone through the windows. Both Run's and Akame's footsteps echoed through the empty space.

"So, does Sheele have a job? Najenda- I mean Boss hadn't asked her about it," Run asked, trying to make small talk. Akame looked over to him, surprised.

"Sheele doesn't have a job, she's too clumsy to have one."

"Oh," Run stated simply as he turned back to look in front of him. In reality he was wondering how such a unfocused, and now clumsy apparently, person was able to be an assassin and still be alive. He guessed he shouldn't judge though, he hadn't seen her combat yet, he hadn't seen anyone from Night Raid in fact. Akame stopped in front of a door.

"Here's your room."

"Thank you," Run smiled as he stepped in side,"Good night, Akame." She smiled slightly.

"To you too."

He then closed the door and sighed. Geez, what had he gotten himself into? Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if he woke up tomorrow and found himself in the after life finding his throat was slit while he was sleeping. That compelled him to lock the door, then found there was no lock. He sighed again, and proceeded to place his things on the desk in the room, keeping Mastema under his pillow, just in case. As he laid down to sleep, he wondered just what kind of mission Najenda had whipped up for him. No doubt she wanted to test his abilities when using his teigu, so he wanted to prepare himself for a recon mission, but then again she might want to throw a wild card at him and want him to do a straight forward attack. He then decided that he wasn't going to get any sleep from dwelling on it too much, and decided to see where tomorrow would take him. Hopefully it would a relatively good path.


	4. Kill Your Comrades

When Run opened his eyes, it was dawn. Since he usually woke up at this time anyway, he wasn't particularly surprised by it, even though it took him forever to fall to sleep due to the fear of Night Raid slitting his throat. He sat up and yawned, stretching his arms. "Might as well get an early start," he thought,"Najenda did say that I was going to be debriefed on the mission, so if she's up..."

He slowly got out of bed, and walked out the door. He had slept in the clothes he came in, so changing wasn't an issue. He paused right before he exited however, realizing he was forgetting something. He turned back to the desk by his bed, and hurriedly grabbed his hair pin. He would kill himself if he lost that thing. After he neatly attached it to his blonde lockes, he then proceeded to do what he was doing in the first place: asking Najenda about the mission.

((((((())))))))))

After walking for around what at least seemed fifteen minutes, it dawned on Run he had absolutely no clue how to navigate the building. Which meant he was lost. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath. He already felt uncomfortable here, but now that he was lost, it made him feel that something was around every corner, waiting to jump him at the ready.

After aimlessly walking for a bit more, he came to an open sandlot, fenced in by stone walls resembling that of temple. It was most likely what to he thought to be the training area, due to the disturbed sand showing signs of scuffles. Run sighed, and proceeded to walk down the few steps leading to it. Since it was early in the morning, and he was lost anyway, he decided that practicing a little couldn't hurt.

He stopped in the center, and took a deep breath. Exhaling, he took a step foward, and slid his foot so that his back bent while the front one extended all the way out. His hands moved accordingly as he did his form, his whole body moving like water. He had picked this form up while trying to find the Revolutionary Army, and found that it tended to calm down his nerves. What had the woman called it? Ah, Tai Chi.

After he had finished, he found himself back at where he started, as usual. Clapping then erupted, causing Run to jolt. "Pretty good there, Run." It was Najenda herself. Run stiffened, surprised he hadn't felt her presence.

"Thank you." He managed to stay, and wanted to physically smack himself. His tone, it sounded like he was nervous, and you should never look nervous in front of an assassin.

"At ease, jeez lighten up! No one is going to kill you," she said, lighting a cigarette. "Want one?" She offered. Run shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't smoke."

"Good, don't start." She put the cigarette between her lips, then retracted it as she exhaled, exposing a breath of smoke. "You know, I can't say I expected you to be up this early."

"I could say the same thing to you." Sure, his original objective had been to find her, but while walking he realized it was way too likely she was asleep.

"After you've seen the things I have, you don't get that much. So what about you? Seen some dark shit?" Run was little surprised about how blunt the question was.

"Well, yes. Hasn't everyone though?" Najenda closed her eyes.

"Some more than others." There was then a long pause, not an awkward one though, more like a pause you give to those who have passed on in your life. Run then remembered why he chose to get up in the first place.

"Um, Boss, would you mind de-breifing me on that mission you talked about yesterday?" Najenda chuckled.

"Wow, you really are one who likes to get down to business. Well, you aren't actually doing this mission solo. Since they're not up yet, I won't tell you too much since I think it's best if the three of you absorb the information at the same time, but it is a straight foward assassination, I will tell you that. I'll de-brief all of you after breakfast." Run nodded, satisfied. At least he knew he wasn't doing it alone, and what kind of job it was. Najenda beckoned him toward her.

"C'mon, I'll give you a tour. You were most likely lost for a while, weren't you?"

Run nodded. "That would be greatly appreciated, thanks."

(((((((())))))))

The next thing Run knew, he was making breakfast. After Najenda had kindly made him familiar with the establishment, he found himself with nothing better to do. As he was plating however, the kitchen door slammed open.

"Do I smell meat?!" It was Akame.

"That's right," Run remembered,"Lubbock had said she loved meat." He looked over to her. "Yep. I'm dishing up, care to help?" Akame nodded, looking extremely eager to eat what was ever on said plates. Once they had set everything down at everyone's respected places, they both dug in.

Well, Akame did at least. Run had barely even taken a bite before Akame set her now spotless plate back on the table. "Seconds please," she said, her red eyes practically sparkling. Run, a little shocked nodded back over to the kitchen.

"Sure, there's plenty more. Help yourself." And she was off, eating faster than probably humanly possible. Run stared at her curiously. She had barely spoken last night and had acted extremely serious for the most part, but now it was like she was acting her age, sixteen maybe? Run was pretty sure a sixteen year old couldn't eat like that though. He was pretty sure no human could eat like that.

The kitchen door opened again, and this time it was a stretching Leone. "Eh? Akame what did you catch today? It smells good in here." She still sounded half alseep. When she didn't get an answer though, she seemed to perk up. "Huh, Akame?" She then noticed Akame devouring what was left of the meal Run had made, and then saw Run himself, eating quietly. She shrugged and sat down at her spot. When she took a bite though, her eyes widened. "Damn, that is good. A little cold though."

"Sorry," Run said,"I woke up really early, and I don't particularly know all of your sleeping schedules." Leone looked at him, surprised.

"Wait, you made this? Damn! Were you a chef or something before this?" Run shook his head.

"No, actually. I picked up a few things here and there from other people."

"Well can you introduce me to them sometime? This stuff fucking is amazing!" Akame made a grunt of agreement from the back. Run shrugged.

"If I ever see them again. They were traveling merchants." Leone sighed.

"Eh, that's too bad. At least we have two people who can cook now though!"

"I guess you do," Run said, assuming the other one was Akame.

The others came in shortly, one after the other. Their reactions to the food were about the same as Akame and Leone. And that was how it was decided that Run and Akame were both now in charge of food. As everyone piled out of the room, minus Run and Najenda, Najenda called out.

"Hey, wait a minute. Mine, Sheele, you two stay here." The pair perked up with surprise, and Run was glad he apparently wasn't the only left in the dark about the mission. The two sat back down at the table.

"Now, Run, this isn't your first time deliberately killing someone obviously, but I have to warn you: on this mission you're going to see some messed up shit. Are you prepared?" Run closed his eyes. Was he? He knew the capital was a god awful place, and that was a huge understatement itself. Nothing, however, could possibly compare to what he had felt back then, the day that all the joy in his life died. Sure, he had no doubt that what he was going to see was going to make feel sick and want to kill his targets even more, but losing people you hold dear to horrible, horrible deaths wasn't something that could be easily overcome. He opened them.

"I am." Najenda nodded.

"Good. Now as for the mission itself," she started, and slammed a drawing on the table in front of them,"this is your target, Doctor Winchester. He's a generally rich guy, living in the outskirts of the capital. From what our sources gather from him, he apparently offers free health care to travelers-"

"Well that's a big red flag right there," said Mine, making Najenda cough, promptly shutting her up.

"Now, as I was saying, he leads them into his home, where he experiments and tortures his victims in brutal, creative ways. Not only that, but we recently found out that the Capital sent some of our soldiers they recently captured to him to make them talk. Thankfully, not many have cracked, bless their souls, but some of those soldiers know crucial information we can't let the Empire know. Your main mission is to take the doctor down, but if it gets really bad in there..." She trailed off.

"You want us to take the soldiers out." Run said.

"What?!" said Mine,"they fight on the same side as us! You want us to kill our comrades?" Najenda nodded slowly, the motion full of regret.

"They all knew the risks of joining the Revoltionary Army, all swearing their lives to the cause. If they were telling the truth when the said that, they'll understand." Mine still looked a bit shocked, and looked to Run.

"And you're fine with this?!"

That was a fantastic question, was he? He had killed countless times before, but these were people who shared the same vision as he did. Then again, this was war, and there were costs. Which is what he told her.

"I do. Sacrificing a few lives to save countless others is something you can't avoid in war, if you want to be on the winning side that is." He expected her to protest some more, but oddly, she stayed quiet, looking to the ground.

"The winning side, huh?" She murmured, clenching her fist. She looked up, and Run saw a different look in her eyes than he did a few minutes ago. Duty. "So, what's the plan?" She asked,"I snipe the bastard while these two guard me?" Najenda shook her head.

"No actually, the Doctor stays underground most of the time, and rarely comes out of his torture chambers. What you're going to do is this..." She said leaning in to explain the plan.

(((((((())))))))

Once Run had positioned himself on top of Doctor Winchester's roof, using Mastema to lighten the landing, he wondered how in the hell this was going to work. He looked down the path where Mine was staged, dressed in rags. Sheele was somewhere near, probably hiding in the shrubbery. Najenda had said that since the doctor only came out when he had new 'patients', they would need someone to be a decoy. Since Mine looked the part, being from the Western lands, they all agreed (Mine grudgingly) that Mine would be assigned that role. When he answered the door, Run would descend from the rooftops and shoot an arrow straight through the twisted man's head, or of things went in a different direction, Sheele would chop him in half. He still found the fact that her teigu was a pair of giant scissors.

They would all then proceed to extract the soldiers, or put them out of their misery, from the establishment. He gave Mine the single, shorting three of Mastema's feathers into the air. She nodded, and proceeded to walk to the door. The whole atmoshpere was tense, if any of them messed this up, Mine could be in some serious danger, which was why no one planned to let anything get that far. She knocked on the door, and seven minutes later, the door opened. No one moved yet, Mine still had to give the signal.

"Doctor Winchester?" She asked, and Run sprang from the roof, Mastema in gear. His eyes locked on to Mine and the figure, who matched the description of Doctor Winchester perfectly. He sent a lone feather at his head with astounding speed, and it cleanly drilled through his head. His body dropped to he ground with a thump as they all regrouped at the doorway. Mine looked over his handiwork.

"Eh, not bad. Me and Pumpkin could have done a lot better."

"Like butter," Sheele said, sounding curious.

They entered the establishment carefully, Mine now having Pumpkin in hand. They weren't sure if he was working alone, or if he had guards, not that they couldn't take them, but they just wanted to be careful. "So, how bad do you think it's going to be?" Asked Mine. Run shrugged.

"I mean he's tortured them, and the autopsies on the other victims they found dumped in the forest were pretty gruesome."

"So bad."

"Pretty much." Mine looked over her shoulder.

"How about you Sheele?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. How bad do you think it's gonna be?"

"Well,"she said,"they're all probably dead." Run and Mine were surprised by the pessimistic answer.

"How come?" Asked Mine. Sheele pointed at the end of the hallway they just turned into, causing both of them to look in that direction. There, blood could be seen pooling underneath a door, and it was fresh. They jolted back, not because of the blood it's self, but because of the location.

"I thought Najenda said the torturing was done under ground!" Run whispered harshly. Mine nodded.

"Yeah, she did, that's why I couldn't snipe him with Pumpkin, and unless the basement is drowned in blood, I don't think that's it." She looked over to Run.

"Have any good ideas newbie? Remember, they are such things as horrible ideas."

"Well, we could take a gamble and open it, but since the blood is pooling and it's fresh, I'm either going to assume the doctor killed whatever's on the other side right before you knocked on the door, or something else entirely just did it. We also could blast the door down, but that would make a lot of noise and alert anyone else here of our presence, if there is anyone."

"Well, I vote for blasting the door down. Better safe than sorry, besides, we shouldn't be able to call ourselves assassins if we can't handle whoever comes our way." Run nodded. Mine looked over to Sheele, "So what do you vote for Shee- Sheele?!" Sheele was not where she was a few minutes ago. Run heard a click, and his head whirled back to the door. To both of their horror, Sheele was opening it. "Sheele!" They both exclaimed. It was too late however, and Sheele opened the door.

"See? They're all dead." Sheele said calmly, as if she hadn't just done a completely reckless thing. She was right, eight bodies, the number of how many hostages were taken, were splattered across the floor, blood spilling profusely. Mine gagged.

"That's disgusting, how could anyone enjoy doing that?" They all stepped in to the room, and Run leaned down to check the bodies. "Is it them?" Mine asked.

"I don't know, with the damage done to them, it's almost impossible to tell who they were before hand." The bodies were scattered around the room, each having a different story to tell. One had its head cut off and then smashed, based on the gooey pile next to it. Probably the unlucky fellow chosen to scare everyone else into talking. The others were just as bad, and Run honestly didn't want to look at any of them. It was just so sick. He looked around the room. "The room doesn't have any windows, so that's probably why they're here. You couldn't snipe him without him insight." Mine huffed.

"I could have tried."

Sheele suddenly guarded. "Someone's here." Mine and Run tensed.

"Where?" Mine mouthed. Sheele's eyes glanced to the ceiling, so Mine and Run followed her gaze. They didn't like what they saw.

"Peek-a-boo." A figure leaped down from the ceiling into the center of the room, and all three of them immediately jumped out of the way. Run honestly couldn't tell what the actual hell it was. It's face was stitched together, and it almost looked like it was two different faces on each side. Barbed wire was wrapped around almost every part of it's body, which was most noticeably covered in blood. "Looks like I've found some new dolls to play with!" The thing explained happily and loopily.

Run narrowed his eyes. "So you killed them, you worked with Doctor Winchester I presume?" The thing, almost acting childish, shook it's finger.

"Nu-uh! I'm Papa's greeeeaaaaatest creation. He said it himself!" Oh great, a killer and a nut-job. Mine hefted her gun up.

"Well, sorry sweetheart, but Papa's dead. Just like you'll be in a few minutes," she shot, and a jet of light appeared from out of Pumpkin. When the smoke cleared, they surprisingly didn't find a crumpled body.

"You did what?" A voice came from behind Mine, and her eyes widened. She barely had time to move out of the way as a knife tried to stab her, cutting her clothing. "You...you killed Papa?" The thing staggered closer, in an almost zombie-like fashion.

"I think that might not have been the best choice of words, Mine," said Run. He drew his pocket knife he had stashed in his robe. Not the best choice of weapon, but it would have to do in these close quarters. If he absolutely had to, he would activate Mastema. The hallway would be more preferable, but seeing as how their target was blocking it...

The thing charged them, screaming an almost inhuman sound. It threw a very fast array of punches at Run, who thankfully managed to parry them all, but thanks to the barbed wire wrapped around it, blood was drawn from his arms. "Tch," Run winced. Mine hefted her gun up again and shot multiple times, but the thing was inhumanly fast. In fact Run was pretty sure it wasn't human.

"HAHAHHA, you can't catch me! You can't catch me!" It screamed.

"Is this thing the spirit of a demonic child or something?!" Mine asked as she continued to shoot at it. Run shook his head.

"It's probably a test subject that went insane. Not exactly sure how it survived based on how it looks." The thing went in for a swing at Mine, whose shots where increasing in power by the second. It was intercepted by Sheele, however, being caught between the two massive blades. It held its ground however, using its hands to not let the blades crush it.

"Test subject?"It laughed eerily,"You mean the things Papa plays with? I've lived here with Papa my entire life! With Mama too, until she died." Everyone's eyes widened. Did that mean? No...

"You mean you're his kid?" Mine said, disbelief in her eyes. "Who the fuck does this to their own kid?!" The blades occupying the thing were gradually closing in, and Run's previous thoughts about Sheele went out the window as he was now extremely glad that she was here. The thing just kept laughing gleefully.

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong with me, I'm fine! Now I'm gonna kill you so I can play with you all like I did the toy soldiers!" Apparently, the full situation hadn't grasped it yet, as Sheele was overpowering it with Extase quite efficiently now. It didn't even last that long, as Run quickly took his pocket knife and stabbed it in the head, right before Sheele went 'chop' and sliced it's body in half. Then all was quiet. Sheele bowed her head to the corpse.

"Sorry."

They all just stared at the body in silence, and Run couldn't think of a better thing to say than what she had just said. He was sorry too, sorry that this child went through that much torture to the point where they were that demented.

(((((((())))))))

Once they found the basement, and finding a lot more gruesome scenes, they found the few files of information that the doctor had extracted from the soldiers. Not many people they found were alive, and the ones that were were insane and beyond saving. Which lead to them putting them out of their misery, reactions varying to 'thank you' and 'fuck you's. Thankfully, they didn't come across anything else like the doctor's child.

As they headed back to base in silence, Sheele broke it. "Run?" The person in question turned his head, surprised that she addressed him.

"Yes Sheele?"

"Why did you stab the child in the head, even though you knew that I was about to cut them in half with Extase?" Mine looked up from the ground.

"Yeah, I was wondering that too, actually."

Run sighed and looked back up ahead. He was hoping that they wouldn't have noticed it being a big deal, but it was to him.

"Well, you see," he started,"before I became an assassin, my job involved me working with children. One day, something happened, and one of them that wasn't there during an accident, went insane. She tried to kill her parents, and lost her mind completely. Her parents were horrified, and I was there at the time as well..." His voice dropped. He still remembered the incident very clearly, not as well as the mass murder, but still clear enough. Her decent into insanity was a slow one, and she finally broke two months later, while he was visiting.

"You didn't want her to suffer anymore, did you?" said Sheele. Run nodded.

"I'll let you two guess what happened after that." The truth sank in. Mine looked to Run, concern etching on her face.

"You did the right thing. She was a danger to herself and to the people around her."

"Yeah," Run said sadly,"I realize that now, but I still knew and cared about her..."

"How old was she?"

"Ten."

"Jesus," Mine muttered under her breath. "It makes me sick how the Empire allows things like Doctor Winchester to happen."

"Yeah," Run agreed,"it has to stop."

The rest of the way was silent, the full moon hanging above their heads.


	5. The First Mile

**A/N: Hey guys! Aschu here, and thanks for the positive feed-back so far! It really helps, so thank you all so much. So this idea came into mind with the manga stating that Run may have chosen the Revolutionary Army instead of the Empire and I was like "IF THAT DOESNT SCREAM AU I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT DOES" and he's my fav character so...yeah. Enjoy!**

After they had given Najenda the files they had recovered and their gruesome report, the next few weeks after that were slow-paced. Run wasn't sure if he was either supposed to be glad, or frustrated nothing was happening. What he was thankful for however, was that he was still able to walk freely in the capital, gods know how long that would last with the way things were going.

Luckily, Mine hadn't asked him to be her shopping 'buddy', and had dragged Lubbock helplessly around instead, which left him time to himself. Or at least he had hoped.

Leone had no signs of letting him do such things, as he was being dragged around by her. When asked what he was doing, Run had just simply replied 'I don't know yet'. Leone apparently took that as an invitation to 'bond', and literally took no regards on his opinion on the matter. "Someone's gotta teach you how to have fun, Mr.'Not right now I need to study teigu and shit.' She called over her shoulder. "Seriously! You're more serious than Akame, and at least I've seen her laugh! If we don't take care of this problem soon, you're going to end up like some of those books you read: dusty and avoidable. A bad combination if you ask me, and every other living thing."

"The one time..." Run muttered under his breath. A week ago, Lubbock and Leone had asked him if he wanted to prank some of the other members, mainly Mine, but still the other members. Run, who had been researching teigu, declined. He didn't want to get on anyone's bad side, nor did he like the idea of it. So, he had said he was busy studying the different types of teigu, which was true. They had seemed okay with the answer, but when Run returned to his study desk coming back with a tea refill, he found all his papers scattered around the room, some reading in big red ink 'YOU'RE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US'. It took him days to reorganize and rewrite those papers.

"I'm not sure I want to participate in what you call 'fun', Leone." He still wasn't sure if that woman was in her right mind. Technically he wasn't sure if any of them were, but still. Leone just laughed, and it almost sounded maniacal to Run.

"Ohhhhhh, don't worry pal, it's gonna be a great time."

(((((((())))))))

"Leone."

"Yes~?"

"Why the hell are we standing in front of a brothel?"

They were in the slums, and standing fifty feet away was a run down brothel. Honestly, Run wasn't exactly surprised.

"Why newbie, I thought you would have guessed: we're going to kill some bastards!" She said cheerfully.

Scratch that, he was now surprised.

"Wait, what?"

Leone made a 'tsk tsk' noise as she shook her head. "Remember when Boss told you that we're also assassins for hire, right?" Run nodded.

"Of course, that was a main thing she emphasized."

"Well, this is one of those things!"

"Now, obviously," Run scoffed. Leone looked at him surprised.

"Oh, showing a little bit of sarcasm now, are we? See how much this is doing for you already?" She teased. Run couldn't believe how much she rubbed him the wrong way, it was just insane how different they were. Run gave her a tired look.

"I thought we only operated at night."

"We do! This isn't the only stop, just a detour to let you know where we're going tonight." Run looked at her annoyed slightly.

"So you're saying me, of all people, is going on a mission with you with almost no notice? Greaaaaat."

"Hah! I'm not that crazy you know, I can be a sane and strategic human being at times," she then rubbed her head, "just be grateful I remembered. I did a similar thing with Akame once, and we kinda lost her for an hour or two because she didn't know how to navigate the slums like I did at the the time. If it was anyone besides her, I'm pretty sure they would have been missing longer."

"Was that supposed to comfort me?"

"Only if that kinda talk does."

Run pinched the bridge if his nose. "Who else is going?" He asked, praying that he wouldn't be left to deal with Leone alone. It wasn't that he didn't trust her skills or decision making, obviously she wouldn't be alive if that was a problem, but it was how they would work as a unit. Their clashing styles and ways of thinking could quite possibly result in a...less desirable outcome.

"Just us. It's kind of an unwritten rule that a new person goes on missions with the older members. I think you're going with Bulat next..." She trailed off, trying to recall the information. Run didn't hear the last part though, as he was silently wondering why the hell God was picking on him so much lately. If there was one. He hoped there was. He lifted his fingers from his nose suddenly, recalling a bit of information she had said beforehand.

"Wait, what do you mean that this isn't only stop?" Leone grinned back at him and slung an arm over his shoulder.

"Oh don't worry buddy, you and me are going to have a great time."

Run sighed, fearing the worst.

"Again: not sure I want to find out what kind of 'fun' that is."

(((((((())))))))

"I can't believe you did that. I honestly cannot believe you just did that," Run said, extremely frustrated. As of right now, he would be extremely happy to help Mine with her shopping than spend time with Leone. She had just taken them to a pub in the middle of the capital, which wasn't what he was mad about. What he was mad about was that she hadn't told him that he was paying for both of their meals. And it just so happened that Leone had bought some of the most expensive beverages on the menu. Honestly, Run should have suspected it. "You're paying me back in full when we get back."

"Yeah yeah,"she said waving him off, then stopped, a sly grin growing on her face. She then got up close, really close, to him. "I certainly will," she teased, and Run was almost completely 100% done with her shit. Although, he did find it ironic, how this type of harassment made his skin crawl with frustration. He wouldn't call what he had done back then harassment, more like deception. Which in some cases could be considered worse. That made him think if he actual had the right to be mad at her, since he probably had done worse things in the past. He sighed as he covered his hand with his mouth, closing his eyes.

"I'm not getting my money back no matter what I say, aren't I?" She backed up, finally giving him room to breath, and winked. Which made Run's blood boil even more, though he didn't show it; at least tried really hard not to.

"You betcha'! I was wondering when you were going to catch on. Based on how smart you seem to be, I was suspecting you would have caught on after you looked at the bill."

"Well excuse me for being in shock," Run muttered under his breath. Leone unfortunately caught it.

"Well, look who's turning out to be a real sass master now, eh?" She laughed, and Run was wondering if he could fool Night Raid that Leone died of a natural cause before they returned from the Capital. Heart attack? Nah. Leone stopped walking again, and looked at Run a little more seriously, to his surprise. "But in all seriousness, I have to say, you have a tendency to know how to get on people's good sides fast. Heck, you even got Mine to like you on the first day!"

"That was because I was polite."

She waved him off. "Politeness, shmiteness. Still an achievement. Really though, what's your secret? Have any you could share?" She asked, sounding extremely suspicious. Run gave her a poker face.

"No, it's just the way I act naturally around people."

Which was a blatant lie outright. For starters, he almost instinctively reverts to being the most likeable human being on the planet when he first meets people. The more you agree with their way of thinking, the more they'll think they can trust you with information on similar matters. He also then observes their habits, finding out what they do and don't like, giving chances to form a one sided trust. He didn't know exactly when those habits started developing, but they were more than useful in this line of work. So, when people turned their backs to him, he would stab them figuratively as well as literally. The only problem was that he had a hard time knowing when exactly he was acting genuine himself. Leone sighed, looking a little frustrated herself over the lack of answer.

"Well, I didn't really expect you to outright tell me anyway." Run shot her a glance.

"And why's that?"

"Because even though we might act extremely different, in the long run were similar; you just don't realize it yet." Run gave her a curious look.

"Care to enlighten me?" Leone put her hands behind her head.

"Nah, I'll let you figure it out. You seem smart enough." Run sighed.

"Riiiight."

(((((((())))))))

When they returned, they found that Mine and Lubbock had actually beaten them, which was a miracle all by itself. Mine was happily admiring her new possessions, having a whimsical one sided discussion with Sheele. Lubbock on the other hand, who was sitting on the couch, was an absolute mess. His hair was all tousled, and he was sweating like he had just ran a marathon in the desert. Run pitied him.

"You feeling all right?" He asked walking up to the boy, while Leone went and joined the girls at the table, asking if she could touch what Mine bought(Mine refused, bless her soul). Lubbock gave him a panicked look, breathing really hard.

"This...is...the...reason...I...don't...like...shopping..." He said between breaths. Run gave him an empathetic look as he sat down next to him, taking his book out. Lubbock miraculously perked up.

"What book are you reading?" Run looked at him surprised.

"You read?"

"Well OF COURSE I read-"

"Wait! I didn't mean like that," Run said, holding up his hands in defense. "I meant that-" Lubbock stopped him though.

"Don't worry, I know what you mean. Geez, anyone ever tell you to lighten up?" Najenda, Leone, his elders, and his students crossed his mind. Well, he guessed he could now add Lubbock to that rapidly growing list.

"I've been told." Lubbock gave him a smile, and continued.

"You see, that bookshop where we first met, I actually own that store." Run looked at him surprised.

"The Empire allows a sixteen year-old to own and manage property?" Lubbock shrugged.

"Well, they allow a lot of things."

"Point taken."

"Anyways," Lubbock said,"what book are you reading?"

"Oh, that, sorry I forgot about your question. It's called 'Grimm Tales'. Have you heard of it?" Lubbock snapped his fingers, signaling to Run that he had.

"It's that collection of stories that have morbid ends, right?" Run nodded. "Which ones have you read?"

"Do you really want me to say?" Run inquired. Lubbock nodded furiously. Run had to give the boy credit, he actually didn't know many people who were exactly 'interested' in literature so to say. He was glad that Lubbock, at his age, was to say the least. "Well, let's see... There was that one where the girl was ripped in half, another where a boy was speared in the stomach, and one where a man was brought back to life after he dies saving someone dear to him, only to be turned into an undead vegetable. That's it." Lubbock nodded.

"Oh, so you're not very far. You know, I wouldn't expect someone like you to read that kind of stuff." Run looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"How so?" Lubbock started rubbing his neck.

"Well, you know, you look sort of like...God it's hard to say out loud."

"Like what?" Run persisted.

"You know...like an angel. You even have the whole wing thing going for you." Run only chuckled softly.

"Trust me," he started,"I'm no angel."

"Well, you certainly act like one, besides the killing thing and all. Hmm, maybe I should rephrase that. Angel of Death maybe?"

"Let's just abandon the whole 'angel' thing in general, shall we?" Run really didn't like talking about that subject. He knew all to well he looked angelic to people, but angels saved people from misery. He...he couldn't do that. Lubbock shrugged and laid back.

"If you say so, but I'm not the only one who's made the comparison." Run looked at him.

"I don't doubt it."

Akame, who had been absent from the room until now, suddenly appeared before both of them. Run raised his eyebrows.

"Time to make dinner already?" He asked looking at the clock. Akame nodded.

"Yes." He stood up, closing his book.

"Geez, time really does fly by when you're not paying attention."

(((((((())))))))

They all sat down for the meal, and Run couldn't help but wonder for the 100th time how in hell Akame could wolf down all that food in matters of seconds.

"Oi, Run," Bulat said between bites of food. Run looked over to him, hoping he wasn't about to attempt to flirt.

"Yes Bulat?"

"You said befor- Hey wait! I told you, either call me handsome or bro!" Run just gave him a look.

"I'll stay with Bulat if you don't mind," he said. He was extremely uncomfortable with the former, and the word 'bro' didn't sound particularly natural coming out of his mouth, so he preferred using Bulat's actual name. Bulat sighed.

"Fine, but back to my original question: you said you weren't a chef before, correct? Now I'm not one to pry and if you aren't comfortable giving me an answer, that's perfectly fine, but-"

"I was a teacher." Run said, still looking at his food, not even flinching. He already knew that Bulat had been a high ranking officer in the Empire's Army. It didn't make a difference one way or the other if they knew what his profession was, just as long as they didn't know the details. Bulat raised his eyebrows.

"A teacher, huh? You know, I can certainly see that. Mind if I ask you where?"

"A village near Joyou." Again, more unimportant details. Bulat looked surprised.

"Small town, huh? I thought you would be maybe a scholar in the Capital, with your intellect and all."

"Yeah, I've been told that a few times."

Then there was silence. And unlike the last few times it actually was an awkward pause. It was a time like this that made Run appreciate the other's naive perception of things, as they were happily chatting away, not noticing the conversation that had just taken place. Just like back then...

"Sorry if I brought up unpleasant memories," Bulat said, surprising Run.

"Excuse me?" He said trying to pass it off,"Don't worry, I wasn't remembering anything-"

"Yes you were, you're expression gave it away. I know that look too, I've seen it, as well as wore it, many times," he said. Run mentally cursed, Bulat used to be in the army, of course he would pick up on those things. How could he not? Run sighed.

"Apology excepted, I guess," he said, and went back to picking at his food.

"You know," Bulat continued,"everyone here has baggage too, you're not alone."

"I appreciate your concern Bulat, I really do, but I just don't think I'm personally ready to talk about the past." He meant every word of it. Every time he tried to go back, it just ended up with another little bit of his soul dying, what was left of it anyway. Bulat nodded.

"I understand completely," And left it at that. Strangely, that made Run respect him. Not as a warrior, he already had his respects in that, but as a human being. He understood why and respected people's feelings. A skill that not many people had in this day and age.

"Maybe you're ready you would like to discuss it over a candlelight dinner?" Bulat then asked. Run paused mid bite and set his fork down.

"Thank you for the offer Bulat, but no."

"Darn it, at least I tried."

"Hah!" Leone cried now joining the conversation. "That's probably the politest rejection you'll ever get Bulat!"

Run picked up his fork again, as Bulat joined in the chatter of the others, and smiled. Night Raid really was something, wasn't it?


	6. Kill the Differences

**A/N: Hey guys! Well, here you have it: Leone and Run's mission. Now, initially this was hard to write, but once I hit my stride I was good. Next up is Bulat! I know some of you are excited for that interaction ((Forgotten64 I'm looking at you)) so that's coming up. Also leave it up to me to do EXTREMELY BAD PUNS ((you'll know what I mean VERY soon)). Thank you all so much for the support. Enjoy!**

"Okay, let me get this straight. You're idea of a plan is to sneak in there and then start bashing heads together?"

"Pretty much. Hasn't failed me yet on these kind of missions. Besides, these guys aren't exactly known for their intelligence and security," Leone said. They were both on a rooftop at least 200ft away from the brothel Leone had shown them earlier that day.

And based on how things were going right now, Run was almost completely sure one of them was going to go home severely injured by the end of this. And not because of the guys at the brothel, but because of each other.

"And what if it doesn't work this time? What if the information was wrong?" He was not going in their without a plan B. First rule of the universe: anything could go wrong at any time. Leone waved him off.

"Too many 'what ifs', don't worry, I've done some thorough research on these guys. If the information is wrong, you then have permission to blame me if things go south, Angel."

"Okay, I get that, but- Wait. What did you just call me?" He was less than thrilled that word came up again. Even more so it was being used to address him. Leone looked at him as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Oh you mean your nick name? Yeah, pretty generous of me right? It was either that or Bookworm and that just doesn't sound cool." Run sighed.

"Leone, I don't need a nickname. My name only has three letters, it's the shortest of everyone else's." Leone shrugged.

"Yeah, but now I can call you something that annoys you, so that's a win!"

"How-"

"I happened to overhear the angel bit of the conversation you had with Lubbock." Run made a note to himself to now talk extremely quietly when Leone was in the room.

"You know what, I'm going to ignore what was just said and get back to the original conversation: what's the plan?" Leone just shook her finger at him.

"I think I already told you," she smirked. Run face palmed. This was obviously getting no where. Was she purposefully trying to test his patience? Run sighed.

"Fine, we'll do it your way."

"Good to see you finally seeing things my way," She said preparing to scale the building,"Angel."

Run groaned, wondering how much he could take before he snapped.

Leone gracefully leapt from rooftop to rooftop, while Run used Mastema to glide over the buildings, careful not to soar too high in case of being spotted by someone. He didn't need more difficulties in his life at the moment, so unexpected surprises weren't exactly a welcomed idea. As he landed right next to Leone on their designated target, Run walked to the edge of the roof where light was shining from below, signaling the presence of a window. He could already smell the drugs and cigars, and being used to mountain air, it surely wasn't his favorite smell.

He stepped to the very edge of the rooftop, Mastema's wings still unsheathed. Using the wings to support him, his feet still on the edge of the structure, he lowered himself at an angle where he could see inside with minimal chance of being seen. He was fairly sure someone was in there, laughter being heard from inside.

"What do you see?" Leone asked, leaning over the edge somewhat.

"Three middle aged men, all looking somewhat high or intoxicated, maybe even both. It's a small room, definitely not the main room they use, but both of us should be able to fit in their fine. Combat wise though, it'd very hard to kill them without alerting someone if we just dive in there."

"Well, what do you propose we do then Angel?"

"Could you please stop calling me tha- You know what? Never mind. As for what we should do..." From what Run could see, there was only one option at this point. "I have an idea." He launched himself from the rooftop, not too far mind you, and took aim at the three men's heads through the (thankfully) open window. He shot three lone feathers at his said targets, all drilling cleanly through their heads. "Poor" fellows probably didn't even see it coming. He recovered quickly, and in one swift motion, he was back on the roof with Leone, who raised her eyebrows.

"Well, that's certainly one way of doing it. I really like the feeling of crushing their skulls though." Run raised his eyebrows in turn.

"I'll take note of that next time then, I guess." More and more he was finding himself wishing Night Raid had a psychiatrist. They both proceeded through the window and landed softly in the said room.

"What now?" Run mouthed at her. Leone shrugged.

"Find the main room and kill some bitches," she mouthed back. Or at least that's what he thought she said, when looking at her mouth the words looked more like 'Fine the hazed roof and drill some hitches.' So he went with the former. They carefully opened the door, trying to not let it squeak. Thankfully, the hallway was clear, and Leone didn't hear or smell any signs of someone approaching.

Run found it a bit ironic how out of place they looked in the hallway, being that they were at the building a few hours earlier. Well, not inside technically, but who paid attention to that? Oh wait, he did. They treaded lightly, until they found some lose paneling on the sorry excuse for a stable ceiling (that type of material was used for almost everything in the slums however) and climbed in between. It was more spacious than Run had anticipated, and he was able to crouch pretty comfortably. Leone took the lead as they then made their way to the main room, testing each panel to make sure they didn't 'crash' the party so to speak.

Run knew immediately when they had entered the room, the smell of drugs, alcohol, and cigars was overwhelming. Run thought he might very well suffocate from it. He coughed.

"Sometimes I seriously wonder how people can enjoy this," he wondered out loud. It was safe for them to talk now as the room was loud from drunken chatter and...well, other activities. Leone looked over to him.

"The drugs, or the prostitution?" She seemed extremely serious now, Run noticed, her expression not the same cocky one as it was a few minutes ago.

"Both. It's just sick." Leone sighed what almost sounded like relief.

"Well, guess I can kinda confirm now that you aren't a sick twisted bastard, so that's good." She turned back and wriggled lose some paneling, and carefully put it off to the side next to them. The scene was one what you would expect from a brothel, you could visibly see the smoke in the room, as well as all the drugged men and women (Leone had told him about this before hand so it wasn't a shock). He looked to Leone, who had a look that looked like a mix anger, sadness, and bloodlust. Run connected the dots.

"You see people you know?" He asked. He knew he was treading on thin ice by asking the question, but he had to know if this was why Leone was the way she was. She grit her teeth.

"Unfortunately, yeah."

"Friends of yours?" She met his gaze.

"I don't have friends," she said. Run then realized his mistake and was about to apologize, but she surprisingly continued. "What I have is family. I was raised in the slums, and in there you have to trust people to survive. The only problem with that, is that you can't just trust anybody, there are only a few good people you can trust. And when you form a bond with those people, you don't just go forming a friendship, you go and form a need to protect each other, love each other. This was near the area where I grew up in, so I recognize a few of them. And I'm going to kill those bastards who did this to them." Run furrowed his brows, not sure if he should be concerned or inspired by that bit of information.

"So this isn't just about 'killing some bastards'," he said,"It's about saving your family and getting back at the people who did it to them." Leone shrugged.

"Fancy way of putting it, but yeah. I'm about to jump in, you ready?" Run nodded.

"Yeah. Our targets are only the ones in the front correct?"

"Yep, but don't forget the ones who're enjoying the forced prostitution." Run looked back at the scene, and his eyes narrowed.

"Oh trust me," he said Mastema's wiring appearing, though the feathers themselves weren't,"I won't." Leone gave him a smirk.

"Atta there, Angel," And with that she leapt down into the room leaving behind a now annoyed Run.

"For the last time," he called out to her, Mastema's wings forming as he leapt down himself, and shot feathers at ten men, killing them all instantly,"Don't call me that!" She gave him a smile while simultaneously choking someone out.

"Make me!" She the side kicked a man running toward her, and threw the guy she had choked at another one charging her, wielding a machete, who was promptly knocked out by the sheer force of the impact. She then dodged an onslaught of attacks from multiple people from all sides, all of them suffering fates from their face being crushed to being thrown so hard into a wall that they went throughout it.

Meanwhile Run was dealing with all the gunman, who were firing at him as if he was going to kill them...Oh wait, that's exactly what he was trying to do. Thankfully, the space was big enough for him to fly around in, and since they weren't exactly the best shots in the world, dodging their attacks was fairly easy. He kept shooting wave after wave of feathers, each hitting their mark efficiently. He then did a mini loop in the air and flew down ground level, careful to avoid the drugged men and women, and literally swept some guards of their feet, or cutting them in half, with Mastema's now outstretched wings.

Between the two of them, let's just say everyone else didn't last too long. Which surprised Run. He had thought the differences between the two of them would have caused major problems, but somehow...it didn't. Run realized that they both had the same mindset when it came down to completing the mission: kill everyone who makes the people suffer. They both seemed to have a sort of 'mode' where when the switch is flipped on, they get the job done, and adapt to the circumstances.

Leone flexed her now bloodied claws,"AHHHHHHHH, now that's better!"

"Finally got the satisfaction of crushing their skulls?" Run asked, now slightly amused by her behavior, now that the job was done.

"Yep! We should go now though, we don't want to be here when the imperial police show up."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

(((((((())))))))

"Hey, Leone?" Run asked her as they headed back to base through the forest, Run flying ahead of her while she ran.

"Yeah?" She said between breaths.

"I think I figured it out."

"Figured out what?"

"How you said we were similar and all."

"Ohhhh, that. Well wise guy, whatcha got?"

"Oh, so it's wise guy now?"

"I could call you Angel again if you prefer it-"

"Never mind."

"That's what I thought. So again, whatcha got?"

"We both have a tendency to want pay back, as well trick people into getting our best interests."

"Ah, so did get it after all."

"Yes, but I do have one more question for you."

"Yeah? And what's that supposed to be?"

"How could you tell?"

Leone seemed to pause.

"Well, at least for best interest one, for starters you were acting WAY too nice and complient when I first met you, which was a red flag for me right there, but not for the others. As for the pay back thing, I can kinda just tell."

"Just kinda tell?"

"Well, you know, sixth sense thing."

"That's not a real explanation."

"Well it's the best one you're gonna get, Angel."

Run's eye twitched.

"Oh for the love of-"


	7. Kill the Deception Part One

**A/N: Hey guys! Well, guess who's making a split chapter! If you're wondering** **about a said teigu's mention, don't worry all will be explained next chap. Enjoy~**

Run was extremely grateful that he was finally being sent on a mission that didn't limit his effectiveness in battle. The only downside: it was a recon mission on an Imperial Fort.

"So, I don't remember if I asked this before, but what's your sign?"

And Bulat's attempts at flirting.

That was definitely another downside.

They were both gliding across the terrain of the forest, well, Run at least. Bulat was leaping instead of flying. Run gave a tired sigh, thinking the man must be running out of pick-up lines if he was using that one for the third time. Being the the person he was however, he replied with the same thing he had both times before.

"Like the last two times: Capricorn. And also like the last two times: I'm sorry but I'm not interested Bulat." Bulat only gave out a hearty laugh, much to Run's frustration.

"Hah! You may say that now, but once I get you with the ol' Bulat charm, you will be." Run gagged minutely in his mouth. Well, Bulat was known for his persistence with enemies of the empire when he was with the Imperial Army, so it could only be expected when it came to...you know. Bulat did just not seem to give up. So, instead of insisting like he had the past few hours, Run decided to change the subject.

"What's the name of the teigu we're supposed to confirm again?" He asked. He already knew the answer of course, but he just really wanted to stop Bulat.

"Omnipotent five sights: Spectator. I thought you already knew that though?"

"So if one of us gets spotted, what's the plan?" Run asked, brushing off the question. He just wanted to keep Bulat focused on the mission as long as possible. It was a legitament question however, since they were specifically told to not engage unless they absolutely had too. They were simply to confirm the teigu's presence (or to confirm its lack of presence), and report back to base. Run guessed it was because it was a well regarded fort.

"Well, it depends on the situation of who gets seen. For example, if Incursio's invisibility breaks for whatever reason, or someone has a very keen eye and spots my movements, I'll retreat since they know I wield Incursio. You could stay you weren't spotted however, since your face hasn't appeared on the wanted posters yet. Or you could retreat with me, since there's safety in numbers," Bulat winked. ((Run imagined he did since he couldn't see his face, based on his tone)) Run shuddered slightly, but remained professional and nodded.

"I'll probably stay a little longer if you're spotted and I'm not. After you leave they'll probably be on high alert, and will send a wave of scouts out to warn them of a possible raid. I could probably gather a little more information before then. If I'm spotted however, it could go two ways: depending on if Mastema is activated or not. If it's not activated, there is a very small chance I could sneak in pretending to be a civilian looking for a way to be recruited into the Imperial Army, but that chance is extremely small. In any other circumstance I would also retreat." Bulat nodded.

"Also, how's the view from up there?" Run looked ahead again. They weren't exactly close to the fort, the only thing maybe worth noting at that point would be a clearing up ahead.

"There's an open field up ahead, so we best move around it, just in case."

"Oh okay, that's good to know too, but I was talking about the view from down here," he said,"See anything you like?" Bulat flexed a muscle in mid jump. Run's spine shivered.

"I don't think you understand the phrase 'not interested'" Bulat clicked is tounge.

"Maybe so." Run face palmed. This was going to be a long, testing day for him.

(((((((())))))))

It took them thirty more long agonizing minutes to reach the fort, and Run was more than happy that once they arrived Bulat had stopped flirting with him. Bulat had activated Incursio's Invisibilty, and was now circling the fort, the cover of the forest around it camoflaging him even more. Run meanwhile, took his perch on an average sized tree a few feet away from where forest met civilization, and deactivated Mastema. A risky position, he noted, but there was no way he could gather any information if he was further away. If trainees or soldiers passed by and he wasn't where he was right now, Run was completely certain he would be out of earshot.

This was going to be a waiting game, the winner being whoever spotted who first, and based on how things had been going with him and Night Raid, Run could probably call himself a master of being patient. He took a deep breath, and a wave of calm washed over him. Hiding his presence was going to be essential in this mission, so it was best to do it now than to wait until he saw someone, in case of someone actually spotting Run without him realizing it. His eyes scanned the perimeter of the building, and noticed it's position was anything but tactical. It was in a large clearing, being surrounded completely by forest from all sides. Strange, considering how well the fort was regarded by the Imperial Army.

Then he noticed the towers.

The fort had four sentry towers, each one harboring sixteen snipers each, four for each individual side. Unlike from before, Run knew for a fact that these soldiers weren't like the men from the brothel, they were trained especially for aiming at targets ranging from easy to difficult. It wasn't the matter of skill that alarmed him however, it was the sheer amount of them. If there were sixteen snipers, he'd have no problem whatsoever, just a flick of his wrist, and they all be but a memory. Sixty four though? That might be a slight problem since they would be shooting from four different directions. While if he was on the offensive, the two nearest towers wouldn't be a problem, the farther ones however, could prove to be a bit more challenging as the feathers would be delayed based in the distance. While he would still be able to hit all of them, based on their skill their would be no guarantee he would go unscathed. There was also the issue of them alerting the other soldiers as well...

Run tensed suddenly, he felt someone's presence. He looked around carefully, but he didn't see anyone-

He didn't see anyone.

"Run," Bulat asked leaning against a tree,"we might have a slight problem." Run kept looking straight ahead.

"Which is?"

"I happened to overhear some scouts on the north side who were rushing back to the fort as if their lives were on the line. They were saying something about how the Empire found out that Night Raid was coming, and that the fort was now on high alert."

"So our information was leaked."

"Seems like it." Now that Run thought about it, the snipers on the towers had looked too tense, they probably had orders to shoot anything that came out of the forest on sight. He sighed.

"Well that just makes our jobs whole lot easier, doesn't it?" Run replied sarcastically.

"About that, I think the best desicion is to probably fall back for now. The fact that they know we're coming kind of defeats the purpose of recon-"

"I don't think so actually," Run said, cutting Bulat off. Bulat raised his eyebrows, surprised by the bold action.

"How so?" He inquired. Run looked at him.

"Like you said, they know Night Raid's coming. Based on the WANTED posters from the capital however, Night Raid is only you, Akame, Sheele, Leone's Lionel form, and Najen- I mean Boss. They don't know that I exist however, so if we play our cards right here..."

"I think you mean play our cards perfectly. That's a big gamble you've got there." Run nodded.

"I know perfectly what the risks are, but we'd be wasting valuable time if we just headed back without knowing if Spectator was there or not." Run knew very well how stubborn he was being right now, but frankly he didn't care. He had gotten a job and now he was going to finish it, end of story. Bulat sighed.

"I know that look. Let me guess, you have a plan that maybe just might work?" Run nodded. "Does it involve sneaking in there?" Run nodded again. Bulat sighed. "You know, if you didn't have experience in this line of work, I'd probably say no, but you know what? It's a Monday, and I have time to spare, so let's hear this plan of yours."

(((((((())))))))

"You're not serious."

"Trust me, I'm perfectly serious."

"Okay, let me rephrase that: are you in your right mind?" Run thought about that for a second.

"Last time I checked, yes."

"Last time I checked? How long ago was that?"

"Right before I joined Night Raid."

"..." Bulat looked at him in silence. "No comment. Seriously, that's your plan though? You know there's a very high death rate if you go along with that!" Run nodded.

"And I am perfectly okay with that because I know for a fact that this is going to work." Okay, that was a bit of a lie, he wasn't completely sure, but we all had to take risks every now and then! Besides, it was him, and with his said skills it probably would work. Probably. There was minute of silence, then Bulat bursted out laughing.

"Ahahahaha! Man, I swear, you and your handsome face just keep on surprising me! I'm in, just promise me one thing."

"If it's not a date, then sure."

"Hah, sadly no. Just don't die. But if you do, walk it off."

"Gladly."

(((((((())))))))

Run ran into the clearing, and dodged a bullet aimed at his head. "Hey, hey, hey!" He yelled. "I'm on your side! I've been sent from the capital with an important package!" More bullets. Frankly, that was to be expected though. You couldn't trust just anyone running toward your base on the day Night Raid was apparently coming. He rolled to the side. "Before you kill me, can I at least talk to someone-"

And that's when Bulat, no longer invisible, tried to good naturely gut him like a fish. Run rolled to side once more, while the snipers now focused all of their fire on Bulat, who was unaffected due to Incursio's thick armor. Good, everything was going according to plan so far.

"Can. Someone. For. The. Love. Of. God. Let. Me. In?!" He yelled up to the fort while narrowly dodging Bulat's attacks. They had to make this look convincing, or else the rest of the plan wouldn't work.

The snipers kept firing, and it wasn't until five minutes later under heavy fire that he pulled back, taking one final shot at Run. The blade grazed his shoulder, and the wound started to bleed. If he wasn't injured at least once, he would look suspicious. "Ugh," his hissed, over exaggerating the blow, and clutched it. Bulat then leaped away, leaving Run to his own devices, staying around the perimeter with Incursio's invisibilty like they had discussed.

He knelt down to the ground, again over exaggerating the wound. He then heard the sound of gates opening, and turned his head to see a squad of soldiers hurriedly approaching him.

"Are you alright sir?" A young one asked, as neared him.

"Fine," Run hissed,"Bastard grazed my shoulder." The young soldier turned to what looked to be his surperior.

"What do we do Sargent Gregor?" The gruff looking man narrowed his eyes at Run, who tensed slightly. This guy didn't look like a fool. Then again, looks weren't everything. Sargent Gregor spoke up.

"Quickly return him base and patch him up, after that, we question him." Run smiled, they had taken the bait.

Now all they had to do was set off the trap.


	8. Kill the Deception Part Two

**A/N: This took sooooooo long to write do you even know. This is my longest chapter yet, so enjoy! Hope I did a good job with the mission. Next up is Akame! Ft. Lubbock! Then finally FREAKING TATSUMI I'm sorry son your turn is almost here. Next chapter I'll have a poll for you guys, so stay tuned for that too~!**

When Run was taken into the building, he was trying to stay as calm as possible. Let's be honest here, it wasn't everyday you were taken into an enemy base posing as one of them, let alone with the plan Run had. As he was steered to the infirmary, he took this chance to see possible escape routes, and to size up the already large enemy.

There seemed to be a wide array of soldiers, some looked to be obvious newbies, while others looked like had been to hell and back. Twice.

"Um, sir?" A voice said. Run turned his head, only to find the young soldier that had helped him before looking up at him.

"Uh, yes?" He asked, still trying to sound in pain, although the wound barely stung anymore, he had been through worse.

"What's your name? If it's not a problem that is."

Shit.

Of all of the things he could have forgotten about. Seriously? He scrambled for an answer.

"Angel," he replied. Then he mentally smacked himself. Why in the name of god did he pick that one?! He made a note to blame Leone and Lubbock when got back. The soldier, a young boy Run noticed now that he saw his features up close, raised his eyebrows.

"Angel? Do you come from a religious family?"

"I guess you could say-"

"Private Tachibana, please refrain from asking the person of interest anymore questions before he is interrogated," a gruff voice interrupted. It was Sargent Gregor. Private Tachibana immediately straightened out.

"Sir yes sir!"

Run cursed mentally. He initial impression of the man was right, he didn't seem to be a fool. Then again, it was going to be more difficult to convince the older members than it was going to convince the younger ones anyway. He stayed quiet the rest of the way, he didn't really see the point to at the moment, not until he was questioned anyway. Sargent Gregor would probably shut him up anyway if he tried.

(((((((())))))))

They did quite an efficient job of taking care of the wound Bulat had given him in the infirmary, ironically. By ironically, he meant that the fact he was their enemy.

"Well, the injury itself isn't too bad, and based on your condition, the blade didn't seemed to be poisoned, thankfully," a nurse said.

Thankfully indeed, he shuddered at the thought of Akame being assigned with him on this mission. She wouldn't pierce his skin obliviously, but then it would look unconvincing. Still, the thought of being pierced by Muramase, or any blade weapon for that matter, wasn't the most pleasant thought. It was definitely not a way he wanted to go. "Really?" He feigned surprise. "That's a relief, I don't want to see the other side just yet."

"Well that may or may not happen anyway, based on your answers to these questions."

Run tensed and looked to the ever-so-charming Saregent Gregor. And by charming he meant fucking sharp. Out of anyone he had met so far in the fort, which to be fair wasn't a whole lot, this guy didn't let his guard down at all the whole time Run had been there.

The good thing was that even though his guard was up, he didn't think that Run was an immediate threat. If he did, he would be asking him in an interrogation room, not the infirmary. Run raised his eyebrows.

"Well, ask away Sargent, I guess." Sargent Gregor's expression remained unimpressed however.

"Trust me, Angel was it? I certainly will," he sat pulled up a chair across from Run and sat down. Run prepared himself, if he hesitated with any of his answers, the jig was up. "First of all, where are you from?"

"You mean my section, correct?"

"Affirmative, now answer the question."

"I'm part of the Imperial police, stationed at the Village of Joyou." Sargent Gregor nodded.

"Then why are you not in your uniform?"

"They sent me on an undercover assignment."

"To deliver the 'package' I presume?"

"Yes sir."

"And what is this package?"

"This thing right here." He took off his hair clip. There was no way he was going to part with Mastema. He didn't particularly want to part with this thing either, but it was necessary for the mission. He handed it to the Sargent, who looked at it suspiciously.

"And this is...what, exactly." Run gave him an exasperated look.

"I'm sorry, Sargent, but that's a teigu." Now, that was not true in the slightest. Run wasn't an complete idiot, giving a teigu to the enemy was just plain stupid. Sargent Gregor's eyes widened in surprise, obviously not expecting that answer. Good, he was starting to slowly fall for the bait.

"You say that, but which one is it?"

"That, my friend is Relicathan: Teller of time. It can tell you the past of any object, as long as the teigu sees you worthy of it." Again, not true in the slightest, Run had made up the name and the ability beforehand. "It doesn't even work for me, I just came here to deliver it to you." The Sargent looked it over carefully.

"And just how did you happen to come into its possession? And why of all days did you decide to come today?" Run held up his hands.

"Whoa whoa whoa. One question at a time please, sir. My section uncovered it recently while we were investigating a possible outlet for the Revoltutionary Army, we messaged the Capital via carrier pigeon, and they said to bring it here. They sent me, but I wasn't told that you were a target for Night Raid, until I ran into them. You know the rest of it."

"That's great and all, but why did the Capital tell you to bring it here?" He was starting to sound more suspicious.

"Well, they messaged us that you were in possession of another teigu, Spectator, and said you would know what to do with it." The Sargent suddenly straightened.

"I was not aware of this. I thought that it had been stolen from the warden of a prison by an executioner."

"Really? Are you telling me that I risked my life back there for nothing?" Run asked smiling, in a scary-calm voice, which was his specialty. Being a teacher had it's perks of skills; no one dared question him when he got like this unless they were very, very brave.

Sargent Gregor's back straightened, obviously reacting to Run's sudden change in mood. "N-not at all," he said, slightly startled. He then regained his posture. "Maybe if you told me the name of the weapon, I could contact our armory-"

"That wouldn't be an option," Run cut him off, it was too late, Sargent Gregor had made a mistake and Run wasn't going to let that just slip by. "Teigu are more than mere weapons, they wouldn't just put them in a normal armory. Now please, Sargent Gregor, is it possible that the information I was given wrong?"

Dead silence.

"Maybe so, but are you obligated to talk to me like that soldier? Or can I even call you soldier? Who are you?"

Shit. Maybe taking the strong approach had been a mistake. 'Mistakes' could make all the difference in this line of work however. All he could do now was try to pass it off.

"Like I said, I'm Angel."

"You know what I meant, stop beating around the bush."

Shit shit shit shit shit.

There was only one possible answer that wouldn't cause him immediate death at that point, and Run didn't like it at all, which said something.

"I don't think I'm obligated to tell you, Sargent."

(((((((())))))))

And that was how he ended up in the dungeon, while Sargent Gregor talked to his superiors about the situation. Meanwhile, Run was constantly trying to think of answers to problems he couldn't solve on the spot.

'This is what I get,' he thought, 'I get one crazy idea, and this is what happens. If I get out of this alive, I swear to god- or whatever's out, there I won't act without layers and layers of forethought eve again.' Well, at least one good thing came out of this, he found out that Spectator wasn't actually hear, which meant they had a faulty source. It wouldn't mean anything however, if he didn't get out of here.

He looked up from his knees (he was siting on the floor) and looked outside his cell. Thankfully, it seemed to be a standard one, no excessive guardianship, just two guards, and from what Run could tell from them holding their weapons, they weren't exactly expirenced. It was a dark hallway, the only thing lighting it were the lanterns attached to the side. It was your stereotypical everyday dungeon from what it seemed, which was a huge mistake on their part, Run had been in worse situations before (don't ask). The problem wasn't getting out of the cell, however, it was getting past those damned snipers. Even if he used Mastema, it would be a challenge (thank goodness Mine wasn't on their side or it would be damn near impossible).

And then there was Mastema.

Damn, when he messed up, he messed up badly. Luckily when they searched him, they didn't recognize it was a teigu due to its plate-like form, but since they didn't want to take chances, they confiscated it. Most likely now on an officers office. So yeah, the situation was bad.

He looked at the guards, both seemed young, but one looked familiar somehow...

Wait a fucking second.

He did know one. It was Private Tachibana. Wow, Run wasn't sure if he should be grateful that they put him here, or offended. Then again, age wasn't everything.

"Hey," he called out,"Do you know when they'll be done? This's been fun and all, but I would like to actually do what's in my job description." Private Tachibana looked back. Perfect.

"Uh, I actually don't know, I could check if you wanted-" He was cut off by his companion however, who gave him a good jab in the side.

"We're under orders not to talk to prisoner, idiot." Tachibana recoiled and scratched his chin.

"Uh, right, sorry Todoroki," he looked over his shoulder back at Run. "What he said." Another jab to the side.

"What did I just say!"

Tachibana chuckled nervously. "Sorry, my bad." He turned to face the front again. Greeeeaaaaat. He had to have a friend who had common sense. He looked at the other boy, Todoroki apparently. He had dark hair unlike Tachibana's red, but that wasn't what caught Run's eye. It was that he had the keys.

Run contemplated his options. On one hand, he could wait until the superiors were done talking. On the other hand though, he could could just take the keys and run like hell. He made a decision very quickly.

He walked up to the bars. "Excuse me," he said, and reached through the bars and swiftly grabbed Todoroki's neck before he could react, and pulled back, slamming said person against the grating, hard.

"WHA-" The boy said, before abruptly losing consciousness, the strong impact to the back of the head enough to knock out people much, much stronger. As Todorki sank to the ground, Run quickly deattached the keys from his waist. While trying to find the right key, he turned to a shocked Private Tachibana.

"If you run or scream, I'll kill him." He wasn't entirely serious, he just needed to scare the crap out of him. Shaking, Private Tachibana nodded slowly, shock clearly resonating inside him.

Click.

Run opened the cell door, and shoved both Tachibana and Todoroki inside, and promptly locked it. "Let this be a lesson to you to always be on your guard." He then started to walk away, keys still in hand. They would definitely come in handy getting out of the dungeon.

"WAIT!" Tachibana called out, hands gripping the bars. "Just who exactly are you?!" Run looked back, and gave him a slight smile.

"That's for you to decide."

(((((((())))))))

Okay, so the plan was get Mastema and his hair pin back, then get the hell out of there. Not really a specific one, he mused, but a plan none the less. The only problem was that he stuck out like a sore thumb and had no idea where any of those things were.

He had managed to get to the courtyard without getting seen, narrowly missing at least ten other people. He looked around, it wasn't exactly busy, most of them were probably on high alert at their posts. He looked up at the sun, it's position telling him that it had to be at least 1:00, which meant it had been an hour and half since he'd seen Bulat.

Speaking of Bulat, the guy was probably placing bets on if he would die or not. Wait no, that would be Leone, Bulat was more honorable from what he could tell.

He was just about to slip into another corridor, when he heard footsteps. Extremely close footsteps. He dove behind some shrubbery, and stayed extremely quiet.

"Hahaha, what'd I tell you! I knew she'd turn you down."

"Oh shut up please." It was two grown men, one seemed sober while the other seemed slightly intoxicated. Run really didn't care about that, what he cared about was them getting their asses out of there so he could move. "Not my fault I didn't know she liked the Sargent." Run's ears perked up at the mention of the Sargent. The other one rubbed his head.

"Yeah, speaking of that, what the hell do you think they're doing up there? They having a party without us or something?" He looked up to the third floor. Fuck yeah, now he knew where he was going.

"I think it has to do with that stranger we took in earlier."

The other man whistled. "Well, he better hope they're talking positive; I wouldn't want to go toe to toe with them."

"That's because you're horrible at fighting."

"Yeah yeah yeah. Are we going to eat now or what? All this guard duty is making me hungry."

"Only if I'm not paying for your meal."

The pair walked off, leaving Run to his own devices. He slowly stood up, and ran to the nearby corridor he was planning to go to. He really would never be more grateful to enemy strangers ever again.

(((((((())))))))

Once he reached the third floor, he was extremely cautious. The verdict of the second floor was shoving four unconscious grown men on a broom closet, not an easy feat.

He was careful of where he stepped, not many people were allowed up here from what he could tell, so if they heard footsteps outside the door, people could get suspicious. When he got to a door, he gently put his ear against it, trying to hear any conversations from the other side. When he heard none, he quietly opened it. It was an office, that was for sure. Thankfully it wasn't occupied at the moment, so Run closed the door behind him and closed the curtains on the windows to create a minimal chance of being spotted.

He looked over the desk before him, it was an expensive type of wood, so it must have been belonged to a high officer. Either that or the capital just loved giving expensive things to low class soldiers, which was unlikely. Opening the top drawer, he hoped he could find his required items. He found nothing, except a couple of files that looked like they had been hurriedly put away. Being the curious type, Run thought it couldn't hurt to give them a quick look over.

'...subjects are being scouted in local prisons by the request of the Empire for Doctor Stylish, as well as new recruits of the Imperial Army that show no signs of growth...' Run didn't need to read the rest. This sounded useful, like a operation that could be used against the Empire. He slipped it into his robe, he needed some insurance against everyone back at Night Raid.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DONT FUCKING KNOW!" A voice screamed, making Run jump slightly from the sudden closeness of it. A few seconds later he realized it was coming from the next room over. He leaned against the wall and put his ear up to it, silently hoping someone wouldn't scream again so his ears wouldn't pop off.

"I-I'm sorry, sir," a muffled voice came through the wall. Run recognized Sargent Gregor's voice. "I really don't know how it works."

They must be talking about his hair pin, or Mastema, hopefully not Mastema. Okay, well at least he knew location of at least one of his items. So, now the only problem was actually getting them-

Gunfire.

Sounds of streaming bullets could now suddenly be heard from outside. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE!" The angry voice from before shouted. Yes, what in deed was happening. Run walked over to and opened the curtains he had previously closed to find quite a surprising sight.

It was Bulat.

Now, he was putting on quite a show mind you. Almost, if not all of them, were concentrating on him. Bulat wasn't even fazed, and Run had to admit he was impressed. He knew Bulat was extremely strong, but seeing it himself just brought another level to it. Which was great and all, but what was he doing? This was not part of the plan.

"What the hell!?" He heard a foreign voice from the room over. "Night Raid again?!"

The angry voice spoke again,"OKAY GET ALL OF YOUR PATHETIC ASSES OVER THERE! WE CAN'T LET THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY TAKE THIS FORT OVER BY ANY MEANS!" Geez, that guy had no inside voice, did he?

"Yes sir!" A chorus of voices rang. It was followed by the sound of rushed footsteps running out of the room. Then it clicked.

'Bulat's giving me a distraction!' How Bulat knew to act when he did, Run had no idea, but frankly, he didn't care. He counted to ten before moving, just in case, and ran I to the other room. Which was locked. Someone must have locked it behind them.

Well, there was only one solution to that. He kicked the door down, praying that Mastema was in there. Thankfully, it was. And his hair pin, which made him ecstatic. Only one thing left: actually getting out of here.

He equipped Mastema so only the plates were hovering above his shoulders. He was so, so happy he had them back. He was pretty sure he was going through a teigu withdrawal during this whole disaster. He attached his hair pin back to its rightful place in his hair, and then proceeded to do what any rational person would do in his situation:

Jump out the window.

He really had no time for formalities. With a crash, he fell into the fray, the ground approaching rapidly. He activated the rest of Mastema, letting the wings grow to their full span. He shot up into the sky and looked down at the situation at hand, and let out a sigh. Bulat was fine. No one seemed to notice him yet though, all probably too focused on eliminating him to look up in the sky.

Run shot down to where he was, and whizzed past him, shouting, "We've over stayed our welcome!" And flew into the forest. Bulat looked back at where Run had been a few seconds ago, astounded by the speed.

"Hey! That's my line Angel-boy!" And took off after him, leaving the fort emotionally scarred due to all the surprises they had left them. He caught up to Run, who had slowed down.

"Well, well, well! How was it almost being killed-"

"I know, I know, it was stupid. But on the bright side, I found out that Spectator was not only not there, but who stole it. I also found this," he said, holding up the file he had snatched. "It contains some interesting information regarding a plot from the Empire. Something about experimenting on low class soldiers and prisoners."

"Well, can't say it was for nothing then. Still really risky though."

"Oh yeah, about that: how did you know when to act when you did? You really saved me back there."

"Oh? Well, I could spot your angelic face from a mile away. I saw you closing the curtains of one room, and you had a face mixing with that of concentration, and distress, so I figured you probably could use some help."

Run sighed, brushing off the attempted flirt. "Well, you certainly did, I didn't die today."

"That could be held for argument."

"What? Why?"

"We still have to explain to Boss why the hell we're so late."

Silence. Bulat spoke again.

"Good luck trying to explain this report." Run felt genuinely light-headed.

"Yeah... I'm probably going to need that."

(((((((())))))))

"That was extremely reckless," Najenda said.

"Yes Ma'am," Bulat and Run chorused.

"And risky."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Not to mention incredibly stupid."

"Yes Ma'am."

"But," she said,"it fortunately worked out, and you brought back some pretty interesting information. Becuase of that, I'm going to let you both off easy. Be warned though, if you ever throw your life on the line so recklessly again, I won't be forgiving. We're assassins, not martyrs. Am I clear?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Najenda nodded. "Good. Night Raid as well as the Revolutionary Army is lucky to have both of you. It would be devastating to lose any of you. You two are dismissed."

Bulat and Run quietly walked out of the room, closing the door behind them. They both sighed loudly.

"I don't think I've ever been more intimidated in my life," Run stated, recalling the pressure she'd given off when he was explaining what happened, leaving out the parts where he lost Mastema.

"Same," Bulat said,"that's the reason she's in charge though."

"Yeah..."

Silence. Bulat looked at him curiously.

"Oi, Run-"

"GET BACK HERE YOU PERVETED SON OF A BITCH!" Mine's voice echoed through the halls, and Lubbock suddenly rounded the corner, his nose bleeding furiously. He ran as if hell was chasing him. Which in all seriousness could be considered since he was facing Mine's fury.

Speaking of which, she rounded a corner, Pumpkin in hand. "IF I EVER CATCH YOU TRYING TO GET A LOOK AT ME WHILE IM CHANGING AGAIN I WILL KILL YOU!" She took a shot at him, and unfortunately for Lubbock, it hit its mark. He landed right in front of the shocked pair.

"W-worth it," he choked, and passed out, and a grumbling Mine walked back the she had came. Run snapped out of his shock.

"Uh, yeah?" Bulat shook his head.

"Another time. Well, after this exciting day, I think I'm going to hit the sack. See you." And with that, he walked off, leaving Run in the hallway by himself.

Well, today certainly had been eventful.

"Oh, Run," a new voice called out, and Run turned. It was Akame.

"Yes?"

"Boss told me we had to do something together tomorrow, so I chose hunting. Be ready." And with that she walked off, leaving Run in the hallway once again. Only this time he was 100% sure that God hated him.


	9. The Fifth Mile

**A/N: Okay, I realize it's been a longish time, and I would give an excuse but I really have none since it's summer, soooooooooo, yeah. It's just because of the kind of person I am, but don't worry, I have no intention of giving this up just yet. Did I mention that Akame and Sheele are hard to write? Enjoy! ((Poll is on my profile btw))**

Out of all of Night Raid's members, Akame was by far the most mysterious one. She and Run never really talked that much, even when both were in the kitchen preparing dinner. Run didn't really take it to heart, he guessed it was just in her character. That's why he was determined to find out more about her, anything really.

"So," he started. They were already walking in the dense forest surrounding headquarters, Akame in the lead. "What are we hunting exactly? And why are you here, Lubbock?" When he had met up with Akame, he found out that Lubbock was also there, which puzzled him. The green haired boy turned back at him.

"Oh, right," Lubbock said,"sometimes I forget you're new here. I usually come along because I can tell Akame exactly where the Danger Beasts are, because I've kind of had a few close shaves setting my wires up every now and then. I usually step out after we've located them though, animals tend not to mix well with me." Run nodded.

"Okay, that's good to know." He looked up ahead. "Oi, Akame-"

She was already five hundred feet away from them. Five. Hundred. Feet. Was she even human?! Lubbock saw it too.

"Crap!" He said, scrambling to catch up,"Not again dammit, DONT LEAVE ME BEHIND! I HAVE TO SHOW YOU THE WAY!" She didn't hear him of course. Run sighed, if she didn't stop they would lose her. Man, food really motivated her, she was going based solely on her instincts, and Run wondered if they really needed Lubbock. He cupped his hands to his mouth. "OI! AKAME!" She stopped and turned back, obviously oblivious to the problem of them being so far apart.

"Yeah?"

"SLOW DOWN PLEASE! ME AND LUBBOCK AREN'T AS FAST AS YOU!" Her eyes lit up, as if now realizing it was a problem.

"Oh," she simply stated. She really didn't talk much, did she?

They finally caught up, and the trio continued on their merry way. Thirty minutes later, Lubbock announced they had arrived. He turned back the way the came.

"Well, looks like I'm done here. You know the way back, right Akame?" Akame nodded furiously.

"I promise I won't waste this opportunity!" Lubbock nodded.

"Trust me, we'll all be waiting with lots of anticipation," he turned to Run. "Good luck." Run nodded.

"Likewise, try not to get eaten by a wild animal on your way back, will you?"

"You bet- HEY," Luboock said,"I take back what I said a few seconds ago." Run chuckled.

"Don't worry, I don't think I'll need it anyway." Lubbock huffed.

"Well, guess we'll find out then, huh?"

"I suppose we shall." And then Lubbock was gone, leaving Run and Akame by themselves. Run clapped his hands together, now back to the objective: finding out things about Akame. He turned to the girl, who was already looking over the landscape.

"Well then, shall we start?" Akame nodded.

"It's close."

"Really?" Run didn't see or sense anything around, save for a few stray animals, but they didn't seem to be Akame's objective. Which made him question for the first time what they were actually hunting. "Um, what are we looking for exactly?"

"Taboo Frogs," Akame said casually. Run blinked.

"What?"

"Taboo Frogs," Akame repeated.

"No no, I got that, but I didn't realize we were hunting danger beasts. I thought we were just going to hunt regular animals." Akame nodded.

"Usually, that would be the case, but it's rare for taboo frogs to pass through here. Their legs are well known for being a delicacy however, so when Lubbock told me, I jumped on the chance."

Run nodded. "I see. So, what's the the plan exactly?" Akame held out her Muramase, and turned it so the blade was no longer on its blunt side.

"Eliminate."

The dramatic action lost it affect however, when Run saw several flaws with that.

"Akame, please tell me you brought another sword with you. If you pierce the taboo frogs with that we won't be able to eat it." As if she already knew he would be asking that, she held up a normal blade. Run sighed with relief.

(((((((())))))))

Both Akame and Run crouched in the tall grass, their targets in sight. Taboo frogs were much, much bigger than normal ones, they even matched Run in height, who was 5'9". They really didn't look appealing when they were alive, that was for sure. Their bumpy gray skin matching the color of storm clouds. Markings also covered the frogs' bodies, resembling the sort of symbols of when something was poisoned by Muramase, probably a sign for other creatures to stay away.

They both looked over the herd, trying to pick out any weak links. No one wanted to have any more trouble than they had to. The trouble with taboo frogs was what they were: frogs. They had incredible leg and jumping power that no one wanted to be on the recieving end of. Run spotted a pair near the edge of the group, a mother and child. He signaled Akame and she nodded. They both stalked silently toward their prey, being careful to not alert anything on their way.

When they got close enough, they stopped, looked at one another, and Run started to draw his bow(Hunting was a sport after all, it would be waay too easy with Mastema).

He wasn't as good as a shot as Mine was by any means, but he could hit something. He released the arrow, and it hit the child in the leg, making it squeal- or ribbit out in pain. Akame then launched toward it, her non-poisoned blade in hand, and promptly cut off it's other leg.

The herd now realized what was happening, and started to panic, forming a stampede. Akame and Run dove back to the trees, trying to avoid being stomped to death.

Once the herd cleared, they both went back and approached their victim, who was unable to run away due to it's lack of working legs. It was still croaking in pain, but honestly when you're an assassin those things really don't bother you anymore, as Akame just went up and promptly stabbed it in the head.

And all was quiet. Run broke it, because he knew for sure that Akame wouldn't. "Well, I certainly would call that a success! Wouldn't you?"

Akame merely nodded. "Mmhmm"

So much for a conversation. They both just stared at the dead animal before them, until Run realized something.

"Hey, Akame?"

"Yeah?"

"Do we have a way to carry this back?" The frog was huge, not only in height, but in weight.

Silence. Then an answer.

"...not exactly..."

"So what's the plan then, drag it back?" Akame cracked her knuckles.

"I guess so, let's go."

(((((((())))))))

By the time they were three quarters of the way there, the sun was already setting, and they had left REALLY early. Which made Run wonder if this thing was actually worth the trouble it was. Akame and him weren't exactly tired, but Run was sure that at least he was annoyed.

"Oi, Run." Run turned his head, mildly shocked and pleased that she had addressed him.

"Yes Akame?"

"You should have brought Mastema with you."

Run's hopes of actually conversing with her flew out the window, again. He sighed.

"Yeah, I know, sorry about that." To his surprise, Akame smiled.

"It's okay though, I had fun." She then turned to face the path of ahead of them again, while Run stared at her in shock. What the- Did she just- How!? Run started to chuckle softly, and that turned into a genuine laugh, making Akame look back at him again curiously. He just really could not figure her out, could he?

"You really are something," he said between laughs. He wasn't sure if it was because it was actually funny, or if Night Raid's members absurdity had just broke him. Probably the latter. Akame smiled again.

"Well, you are too." Run met her smile with his own.

"Thanks, I guess."

(((((((())))))))

When they got back, it was well after dark, and Run was surprised that some of the members were still up. Leone and Bulat helped them carry the frog into the kitchen, bless their souls (well, Bulat's at least). After him and Akame prepared it for tomorrow, as it was way too late to make dinner now, and ate a meal, Run was more than ready to go to bed.

That was until rounding a corner and literally running into Sheele.

"Oof!" They both chorused, and fell to the floor. Run cursed at himself, he hadn't been paying attention. He quickly got up and offered Sheele his hand.

"Sorry, Sheele, I didn't see you there, my bad." Sheele looked up at him.

"Oh?" She said as her eyes met his hand. "Oh! My bad Run, I should've seen you and everything, I guess I was too-"

"Sheele, it's fine," Run said, smiling,"You didn't mean to, please, allow me to help you up."

Sheele paused and looked at his hand again, then she took it. Run hefted her up.

"Thank you," Sheele said giving a sad smile,"I'm sorry, I'm so useless."

Woah. What did she just say? Run gave her a puzzled look.

"Wait, what do you mean useless? You seem far from it, and I don't think accidentally running into someone in the hall is an example of uselessness."

Sheele look at him, surprised. "Huh? Well, I'm clumsy so-"

"Sheele that has nothing to do with it," Run said concern etching in his face. "Just because your clumsy, doesn't mean you're useless. If you were useless, you wouldn't be here."

Sheele stopped, looking a little bit shocked. "But doesn't everyone-"

Run cut her off again, his teacher instincts growing stronger by the second. "Sheele, no one here thinks you're useless, I know that for a fact. Maybe a little clumsy, yes, but never has the word useless come up. Everyone here adores you, especially Mine. If anyone ever said that about you I'm sure she'd be the first in line to shoot them in the face, so don't you say for a second that you're not useful." He coughed, realizing the silence. "Uh, sorry, I kind of got a little bit animated right there. I'm sorry-"

"Thank you," Sheele said smiling. "I'm glad to hear it."

It was Run's turn to be surprised.

"Really? I thought I might have overstepped my boundaries-"

They were interrupted by Mine rounding the corner. Speak of the devil and she will appear.

"Oh, Sheele!" Mine said, completely ignoring Run as she ran up to them. She grabbed hold of Sheele's arm and dragged her into the hallway. "Come on! Me and Leone are going to the hot spring, and you're coming with us!" And with that, they were gone. Usually, Run would think that that was absolutely bizarre, but as a sign he was actually getting used to how things worked around here, he really wasn't surprised. He just smiled, and left the hallway himself, looking foward to actually sleeping.


	10. Kill the Potential

**A/N: Well well well look who's finally joining the party? Bout freaking time Tatsumi, where have you been. **

"So, have any threes?"

"Nope, go fish."

"Dammit."

The atmosphere had been calm the last few days, with the lack of missions and odd jobs, and Night Raid was deathly bored. No pun intended. Hence the decision for Lubbock to decidedly force everyone not currently in the Capital into playing Go Fish. Which meant Akame, Sheele, Bulat, and Run himself, who had been told to lay low in the base until they were sure his face wouldn't appear on a WANTED poster. Which was based on the buzz in the capital on the fort incident, was extremely unlikely.

Lubbock drew a card. "Geez, today's not my day."

"It's almost never your day Lubba," Bulat said and turned to Run. "Got any twos, beautiful?" Run gave him a look and handed him a card.

"I do, and call me by my name please, if you will Bulat."

"Nope."

Run sighed in defeat, now used to Bulat's attempts.

"Why do I even try anymore? Hopefully Boss will get back with the intel soon, or I'm going to go mad," he turned to Sheele, "Perhaps any sixes?" Sheele perked up and gave him a card.

"Hey, at least with no mission, it gives us time to do quality stuff like this," Lubbock said. Run looked at the card Sheele gave him, and kindly gave it back to her, giving a sympathetic smile.

"Sheele, this is a nine." Sheele blinked.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She bowed her head in shame. "I should've realized.." Run held up his hands.

"No, really it's okay, many people make that mistake Sheele. It's fine."

Bulat patted her on the back. "Yeah! I can't even count how many times Lubba here's made the mistake!"

"HEY!" Lubbock shouted. "I take that back, I do wish a mission would come up, then I wouldn't have to take the harassment you assholes give me!"

"I don't think that counts as harassment," Akame said, "It was an obversation, wasn't it?" She sounded completely innocent when she asked it, clearly not seeing the bluntness of the statement.

"Like hell! Sure, I've messed up a few times, but I have an excuse, it was dark!"

"Everytime?"

"..." Lubbock stayed quiet. "Nevermind..." He looked to the floor in defeat.

"Really starting to envy the others ability to roam in the capital now," Run said, actually starting to go slightly mad from all the bickering he had been hearing like this the last few weeks. Like seriously, it seemed unnatural, even if most of them were teenagers.

"Hah, I doubt that, Leone would just drag you around again," Bulat joked. Run sighed at the memory.

"Don't remind me, I still haven't replaced all the money she stole."

Speaking of which, the door busted down revealing the devil herself with Mine in tow, who miraculously didn't have any bags or boxes with her.

"Oh come on Leone! I wasn't done yet!"

Leone just promptly pushed her to the others while having a humongous grin on her face. Which quite frankly scared Run.

"Yeah yeah yeah, but I just have to tell everyone this at the same time, okay?" She clapped her hands together as Mine fell on top of Sheele, joining the others on the floor.

"Should we even ask?" Run said. Leone winked.

"Nope! Because everything will be explained soon, Angel." Cue Run's eye roll. "Okay, so two things. One, I found this super gullible guy trying to make it big in the Capital today, and he had a HUGE amount of cash on him, so," she said while hefting a sack over her shoulder,"I swindled him and got the whole batch! Pretty cool, huh!"

"..." Everyone was silent, and Leone made a pout face.

"Geez, tough crowd."

"Leone," Run said,"You do know that's probably all he had on him, right? You probably just screwed up his entire future." Leone waved him off.

"Well, so? Either you gotta learn the hard way or not at all. If he hadn't been so gullible, this wouldn't have happened! I bet he's still at the bar waiting for me to come back too!"

"Anyway," Mine said,"What was the other thing? I was kind of in the middle of something until 'SOMEONE' decided to drag my ass back here."

Leone's already huge grin widened even more, if you could believe. "Ooooh~ That? Well, you see," she said, and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. "On my way back from stealing all that shit, my eyes came upon a piece of paper nailed to the wall~" She was staring right at Run, whose stomach was subtly starting to drop, despite the calm face and demeanor he wore. Whatever Leone had, it probably wasn't good for him.

She unrolled the paper, revealing a WANTED poster. "Our own resident Angel boy finally got his poster!" Run breathed out a sigh of relief. That was it? Honestly, he had expected more from her-

Wait.

Hold on one goddamn second.

The poster itself seemed perfectly fine, and his picture was fairly accurate, as one would expect from so many people seeing his face. But as his eyes trailed down the poster...

"Oh you have got to be kidding me."

Lubbock bursted out into a laughing fit. "Oh my god! Hahahahahahahaha! That's too good man, too good!" There were legitamate tears in his eyes. Bulat was holding down a chuckle, himself, while the others had no complete clue what was going on.

The thing about the poster was that instead of his name reading Run, it read-

Angel.

It read fucking Angel. To be fair, Run knew that was entirely his fault. He should have picked a better name. Then why did the feeling to murder Leone only get stronger from within?

Not wanting to give her the satisfaction of a reaction, he waved them off. "So?" He tried acting as innocent as possible. Leone was still trying to get over her laughing fit as well.

"So? That's a pretty underwhelming reaction from someone who was like," she put on a dramatic,"'I don't like being called Angel' and 'Trust me, I'm no Angel'. Seriously, that's what you say, but you tell the enemy your name is such?" She went back to practically dying of laughter with Lubbock. Run rolled his eyes.

"Well I probably wouldn't have told them such if you three," he looked to Leone, Lubbock, and Bulat,"hadn't been implanting the word in my brain every five seconds."

Mine looked at them, confused.

"Wait, why does that bother you? Isn't that considered a compliment unless you worship Satan or something?"

Run sighed. "When you hear it all your life, it starts to seem less and less of a compliment, unfortunately." The half-truth, but still the truth.

"Well, I think it's nice!" Sheele said. "It's good that people associate you with a comforting image." Run gave her a slight smile, glad for the effort, but it really didn't change how he felt.

"Glad you think so, Sheele."

Mine's head suddenly perked up, glancing between the two. At Sheele, then to Run, back to Sheele, then again to Run. "When did you two get so close?" She asked suspiciously. Run and Sheele glanced at each other for a second before turning back to Mine, and both then shrugged. Mine narrowed her eyes. "Right..."

They were interrupted however, by the sound of boots clopping into the room. Najenda was back. She stared at the members of Noght Raid, kind of shocked that it looked like Leone and Lubbock were having what it looked to be a stroke on the floor now.

"Do I even want to know?"

Everyone not currently dying on the floor shook their heads.

"Good answer. Also, get ready, all of you are getting debriefed on a mission for later tonight." Bulat raised an eyebrow.

"All of us? And tonight? What, is the world ending or something Boss?"

"Nope, it's just a huge ass estate." Najenda entered the other room, presumably to prepare, leaving the others to slowly pile out of the room themselves. The last ones being the two practically in tears. Run gave them a look as he exited.

"It really isn't that funny."

"Nope! It sure is!" Run sighed and rolled his eyes, as he too, exited.

(((((((())))))))

The crimson moon hung above all of their heads, as they descended upon their targets. Najenda was right, the estate was HUGE. Seriously, it wasn't even funny how much room they had, Run was sure that the estate equaled at least one third of his village. Lubbock strung up his wires, setting up the platform for his non-flying teammates to stand upon. Sheele had already gone off, most likely already in the works of infiltrating the residence. Where did that leave Run though?

In the sky, by himself, where he could see everything. It was kind of funny, he mused. It was almost like he wasn't even there, like he was just watching a show. Of course, the mission hadn't really started yet, but still. He looked to the north, where the Capital was still fairly dark. So far so good, no signs of the Imperial Police yet.

So much for seeing some action.

Run pulled out his book and started to pick up where he left off: the protagonist of that particular short story had just found his friends brutally murdered by a wolf in sheep's clothing, it was finally starting to get good- What? What was he supposed to do, just wait another good twenty minutes doing nothing? Run preferred not actually, he had to do something, he liked using his time efficiently.

_Bang bang pop phewp_

Speaking of efficiently.

Run looked down to the sound of sudden gunfire. It seemed that the guards had finally taken notice of them.

"About time," Run whispered under his breath. While Akame and Co. slashed/gutted/blasted/ripped apart everything in their way, Run's eyes scanned the battlefield. He couldn't allow cowards to slip by and alert the Imperial Police, it would jeprodize the plan. Sure enough, he spotted a pair running through the woods, but the peculiar thing was that they weren't running toward the city, they were running toward the storehouse. Either these people were trying to throw them off, or they were just goddamn idiots. Run sighed as he closed his book. It was time to go to work.

As he swooped down, closer inspection revealed that one of them was an apparent target: Aria Van-Buskirk. She must have escaped Sheele somehow. Run glided down, and shot two feathers at the pair. Somehow, the guard managed to see his attack coming at the last possible second, and pushed the girl out of the way.

"R-run Lady Aria!" The guard managed as he started to choke on his own blood, the feather originally meant for Aria's head now lodged in his throat. Aria screamed and continued running toward the storehouse, with nowhere else to go.

"Oh no you don't," Run said, and dove between her and the doors, landing in front of them. "He probably just made your already grimm fate worse, at least if you hadn't dodged that you wouldn't have seen your death coming." He flashed his wings, looking menacing. Aria trembled.

"J-JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! WHAT DID MY FAMILY EVEN DO TO DESERVE THIS?!" Run gave her a tired look, preparing to unleash hell upon her.

"I think you already know that-"

"Lady Aria!" A stranger shouted, and appeared into the clearing, gasping for breath,"What the hell is going on-" The green eyed newcomer looked up, his spiky brown hair bouncing up and down. Aria gave him a terrified look, and ran behind him.

"Tatsumi, help me! He's trying to kill me!" The teen, Tatsumi apparently, drew his sword, and went into a defensive stance.

"Wait, why are these people trying to murder your family- Wait," he said, pausing slightly,"That's a he?"

Silence.

Complete.

Total.

Silence.

Everyone blinked.

"Ex-fucking-scuse me?" Run asked. He had not just done that. He. Had. Not. Tatsumi's eyes widened.

"Ah! Wait a second! I didn't mean it like that-"

_Swoosh_.

Cue Akame appearing behind him and Aria, Muramase already drawn. "Target: Aria Van-Buskirk confirmed. Eliminate." She charged toward the pair, Muramase in mid-swing.

"Now hold on just a second-!" Tatsumi cried out, and landed a lucky block. How could Run tell it was lucky? The kid had good form, but it was apparent he hadn't mastered it yet, unlike Akame. The red-eyed assassin narrowed her eyes.

"Not a target," she said, and easily countered Tatsumi, somehow managing to pass though his blockade and continue to engage Aria. She was right, Tatsumi wasn't a target. He didn't have the same kind of training or equipment the guards did, so it was safe to assume he was to be the Van-Buskirk's latest victim. Really, the kid should be thanking them right now.

"Wait!" Tatsumi yelled as Aria screamed in the background, and aimed a slash at Akame's back, which she saw and easily dodged. She and Run gave him puzzled looks.

"You're not a target," Akame said,"you don't want to interfere."

"Like hell!" Tatsumi yelled. "I'm not just going to stand back and watch while you kill this innocent girl!"

Wow.

Someone was naivé.

Akame wasn't impressed as well, and turned her blade on him. "If you get in my way again, I won't hold myself back from killing you."

Tatsumi visibly gulped.

"She's serious you know," Run warned. "You should get out of here kid, you don't need to see this." As much as Tatsumi's...comment, had annoyed him, he wasn't guilty of condemning any crime, therefore Run or Night Raid had no reason to kill him (even though a tiny part of him want there to be now).

"A-ah," Tatsumi stammered, obviously confused. He seemed to gather what courage he had left, and tried to remain calm. "Like I said before, I won't let you harm Lady Aria!" Akame's eyes narrowed.

"Then you leave me no choice," she said, and moved faster than humanly possibly, with Muramase's blade suddenly centimeters from piercing his flesh,"Elimina-"

"Hold up."

Leone, seemingly out of nowhere reached out and grabbed Akame, saving Tatsumi's life quite frankly. "I may or may not owe this guy a favor."

"A favor?" Both Akame and Run asked simultaneously. As if planned, Tatsumi suddenly yelled and pointed at Leone.

"Wait! YOU'RE THOSE BOOBS FROM EARLIER!" Leone waved at him.

"Heyo! It's the beautiful lady again!" Run blinked.

"This is the guy you swindled earlier today?" Leone nodded.

"Mmhmm! Sure is!" Run turned to Tatsumi.

"I apologize for her behavior."

Tatsumi, who still seemed to have been in shock, snapped out of it. "Wha-? Uh apology accepted, I guess," he suddenly then backed away from them.

"But I still can't and won't let you hurt Lady Aria! I don't know why you would want to murder such good and innocent people, but I can't allow it!"

Leone's eyes darkened. "Good? Innocent? Let's see if you still think that after seeing what's in that storehouse right there."

Aria let out a small gasp of dismay, but only Run caught it. "I'm sure you wouldn't object to us showing him, Lady Aria was it?" He asked nochalantly. Aria gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, but ultimately nodded. Oh that was cute, she actually still thought she had a decision in the matter! Not.

A few kicks and punches later, and the door was plowed down. The scene was exactly how Najenda had described it, unfortunately. Tortured dead corpses strung up all around the room, prisoners in cells dying of disease, and blood everywhere. Leone explained the situation to Tatsumi, as he wide green eyes surveyed the room.

"S-Sayo?" He cried out to one of the more recently tortured dead bodies. Well shit. Was that his friend? That...that probably put a wrench in his weekend plans.

"T-Tatsumi? I-is that you I hear?" Another voice cried out, one of the prisoners this time. Tatsumi, horrified, slowly turned.

"I-Ieyasu?"

Okay...now this was getting awkward. Once Ieyasu cried out to them what had been done, Run took the time to briefly look around the room. Being from the country himself, there was the possibility he could know a few faces. He found none, however, or at least ones he could recognize. Strangely though, that didn't make him happy, nor did it make him sad. He just felt nothing.

Was that a bad sign?

"T-that girl!" Ieyasu continued,"S-she tortured Sayo to death!" He broke down, and started sobbing uncontrollably. Run pitied him.

Aria suddenly slapped Leone's hand away, which she had used to drag the demented girl in with.

"AND WHATS SO WRONG WITH THAT?!" She screamed. "THEY WERE ALL WORTHLESS HICKS FROM THE COUNTRY, THEY SHOULD BE GRATEFUL ANYONE PAID THIS MUCH ATTENTION TO THEM! THATS GIRL... HER HAIR WAS SO SMOOTH, WHILE MINE'S SO UNRULY! SHE DESERVED ALL THE ATTENTION I GAVE HER-"

She kept rambling on and on, causing Leone to sigh. "A family of sadists with the mask of good smaritians." She looked to Run and Akame. "Sorry for getting in your way, I won't stop you two now." Akame and Run gave each other a look, as if to ask 'do you have it, or do I?' Run shrugged.

"Eh, you go ahead, you put out more work than me on this kill." Akame nodded.

"Eliminate-"

"Hold on," Tatsumi said, surprising the trio. Run sighed.

"Tatsumi was it? Please tell me you're not about to defend her again."

"No.." The green-eyed boy said, reaching for his sword. Suddenly he dashed, and cut Aria in two, blood, guts, and all. "I'm going to kill her!" Run blinked.

He squinted, he may have acted on his emotions, but he did kill her without hesitation... He glanced to the other two, Leone seemed to be thinking the same thing, Akame didn't seem to either notice or frankly care.

"Haha," Ieyasu managed to sputter,"That's Tatsumi, God that felt great-" He suddenly covered his mouth as he began to through up blood. Tatsumi quickly turned back to his apparent friend.

"Ieyasu!"

Tatsumi broke down the bars to the cell, and laid his friend on the ground. "It's okay Ieyasu, I'm here! You're safe now!"

Run averted his gaze, that was certainly not the case. Tatsumi didn't realize it, but his friend had already knocked on death's door, who was starting to open it.

"It's the final stage of Lubora," Akame told the boy,"There is no cure." Tatsumi looked at them with wide eyes.

"What?! No, there has to be a way-"

"It's okay Tatsumi..." Ieyasu managed, still choking on his own blood. He raised his hand in the air, as if grasping for something. "Sayo... Sayo never gave into that bitch! She was so cool man, you should have seen it!" He chuckled softly. "I can't disappoint after a performance like that! So I have to have a cool end too..." He smiled up at Tatsumi. "Just live on, for both of us, okay?" His hand dropped, and Tatsumi had tears streaming down his face as he choked back a sob. Run gave him a look of pity before turning to the other two. "Ready?"

Akame nodded. "Mhmm." They both started to head out the door, when Leone stopped them.

"Hey, wait a second," she said,"Why don't we take him with us?" Akame and Run both blinked.

"What?"

"You heard me," she said,"Let's take him with us! He has potential, doesn't he?" Run gave her look, and glanced between her and Tatsumi, who was understandably to busy grieving to hear the conversation.

"That may be true, but..." He trailed off. Did they really want to drag him into this?

"But what?"

Run bit his lip. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Nothing, never mind. Just don't go looking for me when Boss asks why we kidnapped him." Leone waved him off.

"Kidnapping is a harsh way of putting it. More like, re-using him!" She picked Tatsumi up, who recoiled in shock.

"Wha- Wait! What's going on!" He tried to struggle against her grip, but it was no use. "Let me go! I still have to give them their funeral! Stop it!" Run sent him an apologetic look.

"Sorry about that, we'll come back for their bodies for you if you want."

"Wha-? No! Let me go! I want to do it myself, where are you taking me anyway-"

And he just kept rambling on and on and on. If Run was going to live with another noisy meme re he swore he was going to have to invest in ear plugs soon. But he couldn't help but feel a pit sinking in his stomach.

This kid had better learn fast, or he would die.


	11. The Twentieth Mile

**A/N: Annnnnnnd back on the road to original content! I just want to take the time to thank Forgotten64 because she's really helped me stay motivated the ongoing moths by reviewing every single one of my chapters. Seriously I have no idea where I would be without your support. Enjoy! (PS sorry about the glitch when I first posted the chap! #whyme;-;)**

Two people stood at an old open window, the wind from the north blowing the hair out of their eyes.

"So, do you think he'll actually join?" Red eyes had locked onto the target, the newcomer Tatsumi, who was walking with Leone. Akame turned to the golden eyed angel.

"Whether he joins or not, it doesn't matter."

Run raised his eyebrow. "Really?" He said, head turning to look out the window himself. "Because, I think it may, actually." Akame shrugged.

"If you say so." She turned to leave.

"Hunting?" Run asked.

"Mhm."

**The Elventh Mile**

Tatsumi was what Run would like to call an "open book" so to speak. He was incredibly easy to read. His expressions were filled with too much emotion, his voice pitched like crazy when put into situations, and by no means did his body language help him.

Not really assassin material.

No, where Tatsumi lacked in cunningness, he made up a decent amount of it in his ability. Not skill mind you, he had a long way to go on that too, but his ability to fight and kill. Particularly kill.

Watching Leone lead him to the base, Run had no doubt in his mind that she was making rounds introducing Tatsumi to the team. What he was trying to decide was if he should make the first move and introduce himself, or let himself be found. Sure, the decision might seem unimportant to most people, but it was VERY important to Run.

First impressions were everything. They could make up a person's entire opinion of you based on just a few minutes, or even mere seconds, of interaction. Though, if Run thought about it, he probably didn't have anything to worry about with Tatsumi. So, he decided he would just pass the time, no need in worrying about something that was probably insignificant.

There were more important things to worry about.

Like finding his targets.

Run had hoped he would have started his "little" project sooner, but that had proved near impossible over the last few months, but with adjusting into Night Raid, trying to learn how they tick, and the missions they were sent on, it was safe to say he didn't really have all the time in the world to be scheming.

That's what it was: scheming. As far as he knew, no one knew about his little plot. How could they? They knew virtually nothing about him, other than he traveled a lot, and used to be a teacher in a little mountain village. It really wasn't a lot to go on. The only hard thing about said scheming was actually FINDING the information. He opened his book, turning to the last section between the back cover and blank pages. It was a handy space for keeping notes; not really a place people would expect to find them. He looked over the said notes, refreshing his memory of what he'd found out so far.

Let's see:

Francis Travington

Ricardo Deśmont

Olivia Quinton

Zalma Amen

These were the names Run had collected from multiple months of traveling that he believed had something to do with the incident. Some more than others. His eyes lingered on the last name for a few seconds, and then shook his head. No, he would only go back there if he absolutely HAD to, no exceptions.

"Oi, Angel Boy! You in here?" Leone's unmistakable voice rang through his ears, shaking him from his thoughts. Which he was oddly grateful for at the moment.

"Over here," he called out, and a few seconds later, Leone and Tatsumi were standing before him. Run pitied the boy, he looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. No doubt had he met most of the others already.

"Hey there friend," Leone said with a unsettling smile, signaling to Run something was up. She walked up to him and placed an arm around his shoulder. "I just ran into boss out there, and she said that on my last mission, I apparently took too much time killing my targets! Now tell me how she knew about that, huh?"

Well shit. He hadn't counted on her figuring it out so quickly. He let out an external sigh, and looked at her. "If you're implying that it was me, I'm sad to inform you it was actually not, in fact, me," Run lied. Hey, lying through his teeth was better than Leone after his throat. Leone's grip tightened noticeably.

"That so? Hahaha. Can't tell if you're being serious or lying through your teeth."

"One of my many skills."

Leone let go, finally freeing Run from his near-death experience. Leone just by herself was bad, he didn't want an angry one after his blood just yet. "Anyway," she said, and turned to Tatsumi, who was looking rather cautiously at them. "This guy over here is Run." Tatsumi gave them a puzzled look.

"Um, doesn't his WANTED poster say Angel though?" Run looked to the side.

"We don't talk about that here."

"Oh yes we do," Leone said, and patted Tatsumi on the back. "All in due time, my young killer." Tatsumi gave her a strained look.

"I haven't decided anything yet! But... You'll kill me if I don't join, right?" Run raised his eyebrows in surprise, and gave Leone a look.

"Really Leone?"

"What?"

"That's what you've been filling his head with?"

Tatsumi gave him a confused look. "What do you mean, 'filling my head with'?" Run sighed at Leone, putting his book down, and looked at Tatsumi with honest, earnest eyes.

"I'm sorry if you've been fretting over that, but no, we won't kill you if you refuse to join. We may kill people, but most of the time, if not all of it, is for a good reason. We kind of involved you, not the other way around, so it wouldn't be right. What would most likely happen is that we'd just send you away to a Revolutionary Army base, and then they'd take care of you."

Tatsumi looked relieved. "Really?! Phew, that's a lot off my chest now- Wait. Revolutionary Army? What's-"

"Don't worry, Najenda will explain later. She's more fit to do it than I am." Tatsumi nodded.

"Okay, thank you, that definitely helps me."

Run tilted his head slightly, and smiled. "No problem, it was my pleasure." Tatsumi's eyes suddenly lit up, as if realizing something. Suddenly, the boy grabbed both his hands and held the up to their faces, his eyes sparkling.

"You're normal!"

Run taken aback, leaned back slightly, his genuine smile turning into an awkward one. So Tatsumi more than likely met most if not all of the others already. Leone then decided that moment was a good moment to intervene, and started to drag Tatsumi away, who struggled.

"Alright alright, enough bromancing you two, we have a schedule to keep here-"

And then they were gone. Run sighed and turned back to pick up his book, but stopped mid reach. No, just a bit more procrastinating and then he would get down to business. Right now, he would keep his attention on the new member. How did he know Tatsumi would join? Well... Let's just say he had a feeling.

(((((((())))))))

And Run had been right, unfortunately. He still wasn't comfortable with the fact that they were involving a teenager. Of course Mine, Lubbock, and Akame were teens as well, but they hadn't been civilians up until 24 hours ago. They'd been doing this type of work for quite a while.

Then again, this certain civilian could kill. The question to be asked however was if he would die, how quickly? For all Run knew, the first time Tatsumi was sent on a mission, the boy would die, and Run would never see him again. He shook his head, and sighed. It was like how Bulat had said thirty minutes ago. Anyone one of them could die at any moment, and atone for their sins. Granted the only sin Tatsumi had really made so far was mistake his gender...

The meeting about Tatsumi's initiation into Night Raid had ended, and Run was trying his best to be hopeful for the boy, but it was extremely difficult. Everyone seemed pretty fine with it, save Mine, but Run still felt undecided, as his thoughts could tell.

"Uh, Run?"

The person in question looked over to new member.

"Yes Tatsumi? Do you need something?"

The green eyed boy nodded, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah actually. I can't find the kitchen." Run sighed, realizing Tatsumi must have been wandering all over the place without any guidance. Leone's tour hadn't seemed to help him.

"How come you didn't ask Mine? I was sure I saw her leaving the room just as you walked in. Tatsumi started to grumble to himself.

"Like hell I'm asking help from the likes of her."

Run chuckled. "Well, guess it can't be helped then, follow me."

The walk there was a silent one. And unfortunately it was the awkward kind once again. Run really wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, seeing as he didn't really want the boy to be uncomfortable around him, but since Tatsumi could easily die in the next few weeks, he didn't want to feel any sort of attachment whatsoever towards him. He'd gone through those struggles once, and like hell he was going to let it come again so easily.

"Run?"

Well, so much for that plan.

"Hm?"

"I just want to say... Sorry."

Run turned and gave the boy a puzzled look. "For...what, exactly?"

Tatsumi became visibly flustered. "Um, uh, y-you know. Back at the mansion-" And in one swift motion, Run's hand neatly covered Tatsumi's mouth.

"Just never speak of it again to anyone and we won't have a problem."

Tatsumi, startled by how fast Run was, slowly nodded, and Run let go. "Sorry! I just, I don't want the only normal one here to hate me, I guess," he said. Run only shrugged.

"I don't really think anyone that does this kind of is normal Tatsumi, technically speaking. But I do appreciate you seeing me that way." What he really wanted to say was : 'you think I'm normal? HA That's the the best thing I've heard all day. Have another joke?', but he deemed it a less than appropriate answer. Tatsumi seemed to slump at the honest answer.

"Yeah... I guess you're right. How long have you been here though?"

"Me? Well... I'd have to say maybe a little less than six months by now? Five, I believe." Tatsumi perked up.

"Oh! So you're new at this too?"

Run shrugged.

"More or less. I mean, I've been spilling blood long before I joined." Tatsumi resumed his slump.

"Ohhhhhhh..." Run had to hold back a chuckle. Such naive innocence was becoming more and more of a rarity in the shortcoming days, but nonetheless appreciated.

"Here we are," he stated. "I already assume Najenda told you about the rotating shifts in the kitchen now, correct?" Tatsumi may not have been really good at perceiving things, but man, he mad up in his culinary skill. Despite this no one wanted to reassign anyone to a different job, or give Tatsumi another one, but it was too crowded for three people to cook at the same time. The green eyed boy nodded.

"Yeah, I think so. Everyday we switch right? You and Akame on one day, then me and her, and then me and you?"

"Yes, that's correct-"

"Hey Run!" The two males turned their heads down the hallway, to see Mine approaching them. "Boss issued an emergency meeting. She wants us in the meeting room to be debriefed."

Run nodded, and turned to Tatsumi.

"You wouldn't mind filling in for me, would you? Akame doesn't tend to like cooking alone now. She likes the extra help." The youth in questioned look surprised.

"Wait what? You mean I'm not coming?"

"Why would a runt like you be allowed on a mission as big as this?" Mine scoffed, and waved him off. "Now be a good little servant and help Akame, will you? Let the professionals handle this." Tatsumi tensed up and clenched his fists.

"Why you-"

"Okay then!" Run exclaimed getting in between the two. He grabbed Mine and started dragging her down the hallway, the pink haired youth struggling. Run sent Tatsumi an apologetic look. "Thanks Tatsumi! I owe you one!" And then they turned the corner, leaving a confused Tatsumi by the door.


	12. Kill the Suspiscion

A/N: Gues who's back baby! Sorry this took so long guys, school has just been really busy for me so far, but I have now found the time to regain my chapter writing abilities! Remember, I still have that poll up on my profile page, and it really does help me know what you guys want. Well, just enjoy the chap!

* * *

To say that Run was happy to be back in the mountains once again, was an understatement. No cities, no whiffs of smoke and drugs in the air, just clean, simple oxygen filling his lungs.

Unfortunately, others were less than pleased.

"Eehhhh, it's so quiet up here!" Lubbock exclaimed, holding his hands behind his head. "Do people have a 24 hour meditation session going on or something?" Bulat whacked the green-haired youth on the back of the head.

"Lubba, show some respect! We're here to help these people, not be rude to them."

A few days prior to them being set on the road, Najenda had called them to a mission debriefing.

_"This mission cannot afford to have any mistakes, understood? If we can't show these people the might of the revolutionary army, we will lose a great adversary in this war, and we need ALL the help we can get." _

Run mentally shivered, the woman could be frightening at times. He took note that he was probably going to try extra hard the next few days when he got back to get on her good side...

"I still don't see why this village is so important though," Mine said, "don't get me wrong, I'm willing and able to help, but doesn't this seem almost like a waste of time?"

Sheele looked down at her pink haired friend. "But regardless shouldn't we still help...?" The purple haired individual looked confused herself, but then again, she almost always looked confused. Mine still looked annoyed however.

"See Sheele? You're confused too, and we're all kind of wondering... Right? I know you are for a fact Lubba, Bulat's too stubborn to admit it, and I'm sure Run is also-"

"Not necessarily Mine," Run interjected, still not looking back as he walked in front of them. He was the most used to this kind of terrain, and he kind of needed to distance himself from all of their bickering, so he kept ahead. Mine gave the back of his head a look.

"What does that mean?"

Run shrugged. "I will admit, Najenda not telling us why the village is important is...strange, but that could be for a number of reasons. 1) This might be a test, and 2) We actually never did ask. We're just so used to not having to ask questions that it all escaped us."

Run would've...but he had a nagging hunch there was a reason Najenda left that out. It wasn't like her to leave an important detail out of a mission.

"Exactly, she never really leaves out important details. That's not how Boss works."

Once again, Run shrugged. "There's always a reason for everything, whether we like that reason or not."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever you say Mr. Philosophy."

Silence. Oh how a wonderful thing that was.

Except it wasn't an awkward or welcomed silence.

It was a tense.

Run felt it. He knew everyone else felt it, but no one wanted to acknowledge it. Run dropped his shoulders, and let out a small sigh, deciding to be the bigger person. Still not facing them, he said: "Anything you want to talk to me about Mine?"

The person in question crossed her arms. "I can't place my finger on it, but something's...off, about you. And I'm going to figure it out." Bulat sent the pinkette a sharp and questioning look.

"Mine, that's rude, he's our comrade-"

"No, no Bulat, it's fine," Run interjected. He knew someone was going to come to that conclusion eventually, he just didn't think the first to admit it would be Mine, no offense to her. Still, he wanted to handle the situation himself. He finally turned around and looked the girl in the eye. "You want me to answer some of your questions? I understand if you're suspicious of me, since out everyone so far we've interacted the least, so I'm sure you're curious-"

"See, you're doing that thing again."

Run raised an eyebrow. "Doing, what exactly?"

"That," Mine emphasized. "That thing where you act so damn nice to everyone. You get on the good sides of everyone way too easily."

Run, playing coy, innocently cocked his head to the side. "I don't understand what you mean Mine."

Mine just started to tap her foot impatiently. "Well, you seem to understand everything else just fine."

A few more seconds of silence and then-

"Well going off THAT topic of conversation: When the hell are we going to get there? I'm starving," Lubbok exclaimed.

Run saw his chance to escape, and took it. "According to Najenda-," he stopped himself, "I mean Boss, it should only be about... Let's see, an hour walk from here?" Bulat took the hint as well.

"We should probably take our different paths now then. See you guys soon, Lubba, Mine!" And with that, the bigger, stronger man literally scooped up Run and Sheele, and ran like hell away from a still suspicious Mine, leaving a flustered Lubbock.

(((((((())))))))

"Thank you Bulat, but I assure you that wasn't necessary." The ground trio were now more than a ways away from the support duo by now, and were nearly at the village. Bulat gave him a look.

"And I assure you, Run, that it was completely. I'll let you in on a little secret. Mine, I adore the girl completely as a friend, but she's stubborn as hell."

Run returned Bulat's look with his own. "So I've noticed."

"I'm serious," Bulat said,"she doesn't give in easily, even if you have concrete evidence against her on something: she won't back down. That's one of her weaknesses, as well as strengths. You can't get around her question by playing coy."

Run blinked. "Wha-"

"Run, you may be able to fool a lot of people with that convicncing act of yours, but not me. I know that something bad happened to you, and even though I may not know exactly what that was, I know denial when I see it."

Run, taken aback by what was an onslaught of words, made a face. "Denial? Okay, Bulat, I'm now genuinely confused. What do you mean by that?" And Run was. He'd heard a lot of things after the incident. But denial? That was certainly a new one, and didn't make sense as well. What would he be in denial about? What happened, happened, and there was no changing that. Bulat let out a sigh.

"You were a teacher right? Wouldn't you say just telling someone the answer wouldn't let them learn anything?" Run opened his mouth to give an answer, but hesitated and closed it. "That's what I thought," Bulat said,"Run, look, I know I may be sounding more than a little harsh right now, but really, I'm just looking out for you." He held out his hand. "No hard feelings?" Run looked from Bulat's face to his hand, giving them both questioning looks. The blond sighed however, and grudgingly shook it, causing the older man to grin. "See? What'd I tell you, no one can resist the ol' Bulat charm."

Run immediately tensed up. "The moment was fine until you had to make that comment." Bulat let go of Run's hand, still grinning.

"So you admit we had a moment?"

Run gave him a look.

"Alright, alright," Bulat said, raising his hands above his head. "Sheesh, if looks could kill you'd have taken out the entire Empire right there! Sheele, I need some back up over here! The angel has become a devil!"

The purplette looked over from where she walked. "Huh? What do you mean?" Run just sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Don't mind him Sheele, Bulat's just not being reasonable at the moment-"

"What does this have to do with reason? I would have thought you'd have figured by now that nothing about Night Raid is reasonable!"

Run responded by connecting his palm to his forehead. "I find it strange how for one minute you're the most tolerable person and in the next you're the most intolerable."

"Well, I could become the most lovable one-"

"Moving on... We should be practically there now correct?"

Sheele perked up. "Yeah! Uh, what was the town called again?" Run tilted his head, trying to recall.

"Rentusi is what I believe it's called. Are you sure none of you have ever heard of it before?"

Both Bulat and Sheele shook their heads. "Nope, you haven't either huh?" Run shook his head in turn.

"Can't say I have. My village came from the other mountain pass, the one to the east. This one's to the west." Bulat crossed his arms.

"Well, that certainly doesn't help any of us."

"No, no it doesn't."

"Um, Bulat? Run? I think we're here," Sheele said, pointing her finger up at a clearing. She was right, before them stood what looked to be a settlement of sorts, reminding Run of log cabins. They seemed to be very spiritual however, as Run could offhandedly remember that statutes littered around the area resembled those of the religion popular in the southeast. He wasn't familiar with it himself, but he could faintly recall that there was even an established Church for it, complete with it's own prophet. It looked like a peaceful settlement, but something felt off.

Very off.

Run could sense that Sheele and Bulat felt it too, as they both visibly tensed as he did, all of their guards high.

It was extremely silent, to the degree where you could hear a pin drop. There wasn't a sign human life. Bulat's grip on incursio's sword form tightened. He made a signal to Run and Sheele with his hands, telling them to flank around back. Silently. They both obliged, heading in opposite directions.

As Run's feet padded softly against the ground, he couldn't help to wonder again why on earth Najenda wouldn't tell them everything. As he glanced around his surroundings, he tried to think of what reason would she have to not tell them-

Shit.

Run's eyes widened in relization. Of course! That explained all of it! How hadn't he figured it out before-

"Hey Angel! Sheele! You can come out now, I found people! They seem to be harmless, but keep your guard up still!" Bulat's deafening voice rang through Run's ears, disrupting his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, he sighed, and ran to the location of where the sound came from, hoping he was wrong.

When he turned the corner around a building, he found that Sheele had beaten him and was standing next to Bulat. Who was standing of what Run would structurally recognize to be a town hall. He slowed, and asked, "Is it only a small group inside, or is it the-"

"Entire village? That would be a yes. Follow me."

They all entered the structure, closing the door behind them.

(((((((())))))))

Inside, it was surprisingly spacious. Run guessed it kind of had to be based on the fact that the entire village had somehow had crammed itself into it. "They look like sardines..." Sheele said, absentmindedly.

"Oi! We are NOT sardines missy! Not in the slightest!" A middle age man dispersed himself from the whispering crowd. As he approached them, Run turned on his best 'I swear we're not going to kill you' smile. Though, if the man did know they were from Night Raid, it probably wouldn't help him much.

"Good evening sir," Run started,"You're the mayor of this fine establishment I assume?" The short little man huffed out in pride.

"Yes siree! And based on yer looks, you young'uns have to be from Night Raid yeah? You match the WANTED posters, Sheele, Bulat, and Angel correct?" Run held back a sigh, slightly startling himself at how he was getting used to the name.

"Actually, it's Run sir." The man just gave him a strange look.

"Eh, Angel sounds better than Run, so I'll call you that sonny. Name's Ecan, nice to meet you folk." Run's jaw tightened as he heard Bulat snickering in the background, but chose to pick his battles. Trying to keep up his friendly facade, Run didn't try to correct the man again.

"Err... Yes sir, you as well. We were sent here by-"

"General Najenda? Yip! I know all about why you're here, who do ya think sent the request in the first place?" This caught Bulat's attention.

"Really? Then sir, would you be so kind to inform us of why-" He was intterupted however, by Run discretely stomping on his toe, which caught the older man off guard with how much force was put into it. "Ow!"

"What my comrade here means is that would you be so kind to inform us of why you and your people have chosen to hunker down in here of all places?" He shot Bulat a look, glancing to the other people behind Ecan. They were all joyfully talking to themselves, as if they didn't understand the danger (that's what Run assumed it was) of their situation. What ever was going on, it seemed the rest of the population besides Ecan didn't even realize they were assassins. Thankfully Bulat took the hint. "Right..."

Ecan raised his bushy eyebrows. "Well, I'm sure you're able to figure that out-"

**_BANG!_**

The sound of an ever so familiar shot rang throughout the halls, hushening the crowd. All the ground members of Night Raid turned they're heads in alarm, knowing what the noise meant. Mine had shot, meaning one thing.

"Sheele, make sure the windows are secure, and get the civilians to a safer place, now," Bulat said quickly. "Run, cover me." Run nodded and activated Mastema, hearing a few gasps from the back as the feathers sprouted. Bulat activated Incursio's armor form, and no sooner had it wrapped around him, he dashed to the door, ripping it open.

What they saw, didn't exactly surprise the assassins. It was definitely a body, one that Mine had shot cleanly through the head, and Run had to say that she was clearly a better marksman than him. The thing off about the body however wasn't the shot or the position of the body: It was the clothing. What the body was wearing was armor. But not just any armor:

Imperial Armor.

Night Raid's suspicions were suddenly confirmed to be true.

"So we meet again Night Raid."

They were being ambushed.


	13. Kill the Trust

A/N: Hey guys, sorry this took so long.. School's a bitch. Hopefully the update makes up for it. Also, since its Christmas, I was thinking of writing a quick unrelated to plot yule tide cheer one shot, and answer all your questions, theories, ships ect. It'd be like my Christmas present to you guys, so let me know! Enjoy~

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"So we meet again Night Raid."

Okay, Run didn't like the thought of being ambushed. It was one of those times where you have almost little to no time to prepare a counter attack, and have to improvise. Now, it wasn't like Run _wasn't _good at improvisation, but there's always the chance that something could go wrong. Case in point: The Fort incident.

Which was why Run really didn't like being ambushed right then. Upon seeing the speaker's face, he immediately dropped his stance and looked him cooly in the eye, making Bulat give him a questioning glance.

"Sargent Gregor, it's nice to see you again," Run joked, only his voice lacked humor. The red headed man only glared at him, giving him a snarl.

"Actually, thanks to you, it's Lieutenant Gregor now. And only when I see your damn dead body on the ground will it be nice to see _you_." Bulat snorted loudly.

"Put him and Mine in the same room. It'll sure be a party then." Bulat turned to Run. "This was the guy who you said questioned you, right? He matches the description you gave us." Run merely nodded.

Sargent- No _Lieutenant _Gregor just spat at them. "Glad you thought I was important enough to include in your little report. I bet you thought you were so clever getting out of your cell, and getting back your little teigu, didn't you?"

Oh yeah, Run definitely wouldn't want him and Mine in the same room. Gregor was definitely still fuming about Run's accidental success (like Run would tell anyone it was accidental), but Run could work with that rage.

"As a matter of fact I did," said Run, resuming his polite, default stance, the tone of his voice almost _mockingly _polite. "I mean, not everyone can get out of a difficult situation such as that one." Run smirked internally as he saw Gregor clench up in rage. "Albeit, you did go easy on me, hm? Aren't I right, _Sargent _Gregor?"

Run could practically hear Gregor's vein pop. "That's fucking it, forget being happy when I see your dead body, I'll be happy when I see your fucking head on a platter." He snapped his fingers. "Dumb luck got you out alive last time, but _this_ time we'll be the victors." Suddenly, soldiers erupted from the forest surrounding them, guns and swords raised.

It didn't surprise to Night Raid however, they had known they were there ever since Mine sounded her shot. Regardless, it wasn't a good situation. Why? Well, even though taking them all out wouldn't be a problem for Night Raid, it was the amount. Run was sure there were more he couldn't see. Normally, amount wouldn't be a problem either, but they had people to _protect _in there. So the bottom line was that they couldn't let anyone pass _period_.

Run took a deep breath, and looked Lieutenant Gregor straight in the eye. "Well then, let's hope dumb luck is with us today again as well."

Run suddenly hit the ground, allowing Sheele to leap over him, Extase already raised. Chaos then erupted. Bulat retreated back to guard the civilians inside the town hall, and let Run and Sheele deal with the riff-raff. Gunshots were aimed at Sheele, but they were met with Extase's blade, every shot being reflected perfectly. She easily got the advantage on them, and started to cut soldiers down left and right, no mercy shown in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Run launched off the ground, having used the force Mastema's wings, and rose into the sky. Now this was the type of battle in which Run excelled in, no limitations in space, no careful aim (to an extent of course), and no need to be secretive. It was him, Mastema, his enemies, and the great big open sky.

Bullets whizzed past Run's cheek, but Run wasn't fazed, he knew what he was doing. The infantry unfortunately did not. Run roamed about the sky, sending wave, after wave of feathers down onto his enemies, most of them not even able to see what exactly killed them. The body count kept rising and rising, as more and more hit the ground.

"Run!" He heard a shout, and the person in question turned sharply to glance at Bulat. "Watch the other entrances! I would too, but I'm a little-" He paused mid-sentence to gut a foolish soldier. "- busy at the moment!" Run nodded immediately and while shooting even more soldiers on the battlefield, soared to the roof of the town hall, landing on its steeple. From there, he was easily able to monitor all entrances to the building, and picked off all who tried to enter quickly and efficiently. Honestly it was kind of like picking petals off a flower, well, that's at least how Run saw it.

"Behind you _Fucker_!" A soldier cried as he tried to get the jump on Run, as he was somehow able to make it onto the roof. Run didn't even care enough to look at the guy.

"More like behind you, sir." He said calmly, as Sheele had left the battlefront to join him on the roof,cutting the poor guy in half. He gave the purpette woman a curious look. "Bulat has the ground covered?" She nodded.

"Yes, their numbers are getting smaller. I went up to help him but he said to cover you."

"Should I be thankful or offended?"

Sheele smiled. "Well, he said to do it because….. I believe his words were: 'Run's covering my ass! Return the favor!'"

Run gave an exasperated sigh. Somehow he felt that that was going to happen a lot more. He gave a tired smile at her. "Well I can't say it's not an honor Sheele. I gladly accept your protection." He waved his hand and sent out another wave of feathers.

Sheele laughed slightly. "I don't really think you need it, but thank you." She then chopped another straggler in half.

Run gazed over the battlefield while Sheele dealt with people on the roof. They seemed to be winning, as the bodies now seemed to be piling on top of each other now. All was well, hell they might even be able to be on their way home tonight if this kept up-

A wail erupted through the field. And Run whirled around, so did Sheele. Their eyes widened as they saw Lieutenant Gregor, in the middle of a field.

With a small child at gunpoint. Looking straight at them.

Gregor was grinning like a madman, which Run was sure wasn't a stretch. His face was covered in his comrades' blood, his eyes twitching. Run looked to Bulat, who unfortunately was still busy trying to prevent other soldiers from entering the estate. He then looked to the ground where he saw some other villagers huddling around an exit. What Run suspected to be the child's mother was being held back by a group of people, her hand reaching out for her girl.

Even what few men were left on the field that Gregor was on looked partially shocked. Some more than others. Gregor then started laughing. _Fucking laughing. _

"What? No smart ass comment this time? Or are you just shocked to find yourself royally screwed now?" Gregor locked eyes with Run, and then jerked the gun closer to the whimpering child's head. "I'll give you a choice Angel, or Demon, or whatever the _fuck _you are. Either this bullet, goes through this child's head, or it goes through yours. Willingly. So what's the answer to that? You've seemed to have one for everything so far."

Run sensed that Sheele was looking at him, but he was too busy trying to contain his own rage. His fists were clenched, his jaw was tightened.

"Run-" Sheele started, but Run put a hand, and looked her in the eye.

"I trust her." Was all he said.

He deactivated Mastema, and jumped down onto the ground, steeled look never leaving his eyes. After a few minutes of tense silence (except for the background noise of Bulat fighting around back) Gregor finally broke it.

"Throw away the damn teigu, Demon." Run obliged throwing it Frisbee style to Sheele, who caught it.

"Run," she called out, "this is really unnecessary-"

"No Sheele," Run gave interrupted, "It is." And it was the truth, for him and the mission. He turned back to Gregor.

"You've got me right where you want me, now let the girl go."

Gregor snorted and pointed to a soldier who seemed to be somewhat not in shock. "You, hold the girl at gunpoint until this fucker's body is on the ground, if he tries anything, _shoot her._" The soldier obliged, and Gregor was now pointing his gun at Run's head.

"You know, maybe I misjudged you a little. Maybe you're not a complete monster," Gregor started, "but don't think that's gonna get any sympathy from me. Do you know what the fuck they did to me after you escaped!? They fucking tortured the shit out of me, everyday, day and night, for three weeks _straight. _They promoted me because they thought I'd now have the motivation to not fuck up. So I'm not going back without at least killing you." Gregor's hand was shaking now, and Run was starting to doubt that even if Gregor did shoot him it would hit.

"Lieutenant, none of us want you to go back."

Gregor just laughed and walked toward Run, gun still raised. He then placed the barrel on Run's forehead, who still remained unmoving.

"Like I could trust a demon like you."

_Crack!_

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A piercing gunshot rang out through Bulat's ears as he gut the last person on his side of the field. He whirled around, looking to the other side. What? There was something about the noise, like it was deciding, final factor. He looked up to the roof for the first time in a while to get confirmation from Run and Sheele-

Wait, where were they? Bulat's eyes then widened. _The shot_.

He raced to the other side of the building, heart racing. If it was either one of them, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

"Sheele! Run! Are you alright-" He froze mid-sentence. Sheele was looking solemnly at the center of the field.

Where Run was, staring the same way at a fallen body.

Mine had done her job. She had taken Gregor out.

(((((((())))))))

The battle cleaned up fairly quickly after that. After losing their commanding officer, almost everyone had surrendered, and the ones who didn't were dealt with accordingly. Cut of the head, and the body ceases to function.

Run looked on at the mother hugging her child, cooing over her. He smiled sadly to himself. Well, if he was going to pick one good thing out of this…

"Oi, Angel Boy." Run's head turned over to Bulat and Sheele. They had just come back from talking with Ecan. Run had stayed back because well… he had needed a bit if time. "Did you know?"

"About that this was a trust based mission? I would be lying to say that I didn't have my suspicions."

Bulat nodded. "Who would have thought that good ol' Ecan knew the Imperials were coming for an inspection, and told them we were coming. I just can't believe he requested Najenda to send us in without telling us for a 'test of trust'. I mean sure, I get they were torn over who to side with, and that their influence within the Path of Peace movement is instrumental, but man this makes my top 20 of overcomplicated missions."

"Oh!" Sheele perked up. "Mr. Ecan told us to thank you for him too! He said something like….. Like…." She scrambled to remember the words, but Bulat gave a hearty laugh and slapped her on the back.

"What Sheele means to say that he was grateful you did what you did to help that girl. He never thought the Imperials would go that far, but when he saw you willing to go that far for one girl, he made up his mind." He scratched the back of his head. "Though I hate to be the one to tell you this, but don't do that every mission, alright? I know I sound like the bad guy right now-"

"I understand."

Bulat looked at him, Run looked perfectly fine, shrugging as he said it. "I realize, excuse me if I sound vain, that in the grand scheme of things, I am worth more than regular citizens. But trust me when I say this, if I see a situation that I can prevent, I'll try my best to do so without throwing my life away."

Bulat nodded. "I can respect that. Are you sure you weren't a soldier instead of a teacher?"

Run laughed slightly. "Are you sure you weren't a comedian instead of a general?"

"Touché. Well, now that we completed the mission, we should head out now, right? Lubba and Mine should be waiting for us already."

Sheele and Run nodded, waving to the villagers as they left. After walking for a few minutes, they saw Lubbock and Mine sitting on some rocks.

"Hey! Well look who it is," Lubbock said as he jumped down to high-five them all. "Another good day's work, huh?" Bulat nodded.

"Yep, all's well that ends wyou, but wait till you guys hear what we found out…"

Run started to tune him out, when he heard an abrupt cough, and they all turned their heads to Mine, who was staring intensely at Run. She took a deep breath.

"I-"

"Hello?" A new voice called out, sounding young and childish. Lubbock and Mine suddenly hissed like cats and scrambled for cover behind the rocks from which they came. A small child poked her head out from the shadows. When she saw Sheele, Bulat, and Run, she perked up. "Oh! Yay, you're still here!" She bounded up to them and hugged Run. "I wanted to thank you Mister! I tried to before you left, but Mommy was too busy hugging the life out of me." She suddenly let go and held out a flower. "Thank you!"

Run stared at her for a moment, a flash of pain in his eyes leaving as quickly as it came, before smiling and kneeling down to take it. "Your welcome Miss, but you probably shouldn't leave your poor Mother all alone like that, she needs you, no?"

The girl looked shock, as if realizing Run's words. "Oh, you're right!" She turned to leave, but bowed to all three of them. "Thank you all for saving us!" And she was gone.

Lubbock and Mine carefully poked their heads out from their hiding spots. "Damn…" Lubbock sighed,"I was so distracted I didn't sense her coming." Mine did the same thing.

"Yeah…" She stood up and looked at Run again. Though it was a softer expression than last time.

"You were saying something, MinBut Run asked. Said person just sighed and closed her eyes.

"I….," she started, "I still think there's something off about you. But," she said turning around, "Youre hearts in the right place. That's all I need." She then stuck her nose into the air, and proceeded to walk back to base. The rest started to as well, laughing and smiling with each other. Run smiled to himself, as he too, started off with them, thinking to himself.

"I'm glad you think so, Mine."


End file.
